Killer gets 15 years; confesses in pocket-call to victim’s daughter

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This article was published 29/10/2017 (3069 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As a 52-year-old grandfather lay dying of a stab wound outside his home last year, his killer was unknowingly leaving a voicemail for the victim’s daughter, saying he “f—– him up pretty good.”

Richard Paul, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the April 27, 2016 homicide of Gheorghe Uta and was sentenced to 15 years in prison last week after he admitted he had stabbed Uta on two occasions.

“It’s almost inconceivable,” provincial court Judge Lynn Stannard said to the accused as she imposed the 15-year sentence.

“Mr. Uta was injured at one point in time in a serious aggravated assault, and then four weeks later… comes in contact with you again, and you end his life.”

On March 31, 2016, Paul stabbed Uta in the stomach at the back of a house in the 1800 block of Alexander Avenue. He fled and wasn’t caught by police. Uta recovered from the injury, but was stabbed again by Paul about a month later.

They were riding their bikes past each other on Alexander Avenue, with Uta riding in the opposite direction from Paul and his girlfriend, when Uta pulled out his cellphone. Paul thought Uta recognized him and presumably would turn him in as the person who had stabbed him.

“The Crown’s position is that Mr. Uta had taken out his cellphone. As a result of further police investigation, including the interview of Mr. Paul, it became apparent that Mr. Paul believed that he had taken out his cellphone to either take a picture… or a video of Mr. Paul,” Crown attorney Mark Kantor said during Paul’s sentencing hearing Oct. 25.

Paul confronted Uta and stabbed him again – once in the abdomen and once in the lower chest. He stole Uta’s cellphone – which pocket-dialled Uta’s adult daughter. In a long message, Paul is heard talking about the stabbing, saying “I ran into that guy again.”

Kantor read a victim impact statement from Uta’s daughter Angela in court: “Know that this incident has changed my life dramatically, and not just myself, but my daughter, too. Try explaining to a five-year-old why grandpa is suddenly not around to play with her anymore. It breaks my heart so bad that it’s hard to speak sometimes.”

Court was told Paul didn’t mean to kill Uta, and the manslaughter charge was never upgraded to second-degree murder. His mother told police Paul had told her he purposely didn’t stab Uta in the upper chest because he didn’t want him to die. He was on bail at the time and had a court order banning him from carrying weapons, but Paul later told his probation officer he had the knife for his own protection and only wanted the victim’s phone.

Defence lawyer Ian McNaught told the judge Paul had been diagnosed with alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder, a condition on the fetal-alcohol spectrum, and was known to act impulsively. His substance abuse over the years created a “Jekyll-and-Hyde scenario where the person who’s on drugs is very different than the sober individual who we ultimately or usually see before the court. As I say, I don’t think this violence is Mr. Paul’s default position,” McNaught said.

The Crown had asked for 16 years, with a concurrent three-year sentence for the earlier aggravated assault on Uta. With credit for time he’s already served, Paul has 12 years and nine months left behind bars.

katie.may@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @thatkatiemay