Calgary teen charged with human trafficking previously beat homeless man to death
Meghan Grant | CBC News | Posted: January 12, 2018 10:24 PM | Last Updated: January 12, 2018
Gabriel Okeynan, 45, was attacked near Marlborough Mall in June 2014
One of the teens accused of holding a woman against her will in an apartment and forcing her to have sex with strangers for five days was previously convicted of manslaughter, CBC News has learned.
The youth, who can't be named in order to comply with the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was charged alongside two other teens and Jessica Vinje, 29, all of whom were arrested three weeks ago.
He made a brief appearance in youth court on Friday and will return later this month.
In 2015, the same teen pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Gabriel Okeynan, 45, who was beaten, robbed and stabbed to death in June 2014 near Marlborough Mall.
The boy, who was 13 years old at the time of his first arrest, was originally charged with second-degree murder alongside a 16 year old. Both teens were convicted of manslaughter.
In November 2015, the judge imposed a 33-month sentence. The boy was allowed to serve the remaining six months of the time in a group home with another 12 months of community supervision afterward.
On Dec. 13, 2017, a woman escaped from an apartment in the city's southwest and ran into a nearby store, where she told staff she'd been forcibly confined for five days and repeatedly sexually assaulted.
Police believe the victim met one of the suspects in the lobby of the apartment building, where she was taken upstairs and assaulted.
It's alleged that over the course of the next five days, the suspects pimped out the victim to more than 10 men, forcing her to "perform sexual acts."
Vinje was also in court on Friday, for a bail hearing. Provincial court Judge John Bascom hasn't yet made a decision whether she'll be released.