VANCOUVER - A young drug trafficker who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the 2011 killing of 20-year-old Branson Kerick Rendell Sanders has had 98 days shaved off of his prison sentence.
Brandon Shiu Nandan's new sentence, determined by the Court of Appeal for British Columbia, is five years and 71 days in prison instead of five years and 169 days.
Justice Elizabeth Bennett noted Nandan had been given one day's credit for each day he'd spent in pre-sentence custody but, in keeping with a ruling last year by the Supreme Court of Canada, he is entitled to one and a half days for each day served. Justices Nicole Garson and John Savage concurred.
Earlier, Shakib Abdiriz Shakib, who also pleaded guilty to manslaughter in Sanders's death, had 133 days shaved off of his prison sentence.
In that case, Court of Appeal Justice Mary Newbury reduced Shakib's sentence to four years and 332 days after the Crown did not oppose him being granted a day and a half credit for every day he served prior to sentencing. Justices Peter Lowry and Edward Chaisson concurred.
Shakib and Nandan were originally charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge.
Sanders had been attacked with a machete at the Nandan family's house in the 18000-block of 55th Avenue in Cloverdale, over a dispute involving drugs.
Nandan's parents had been in Edmonton at the time.
Nandan and Shakib were both 19 at the time.
Sanders' badly burned body was found in a forested area of Robert Burnaby Park on Dec. 2, 2011.
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com