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Judge sentences killer to life

One of Darcy Kozaks victims was Kenneth Leask from Powell River

A Vancouver Island killer who boasted of torturing his victims has been sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 23 years.

Justice James Williams sentenced 40-year-old Darcy William Kozak in BC Supreme Court in Victoria for killing Kenneth Allan Leask, 44, from Powell River and Kenneth Robinson, a 45-year-old homeless man from Nanaimo.

“Mr. Kozak’s acts were a manifestation of incomprehensible evil,” Williams said. “It is my view that this offender and these offences are that rare case which would warrant the imposition of the maximum period of parole ineligibility.”

However, Williams considered Kozak’s guilty pleas, which spared the victims’ families from having to testify at what was expected to be a 10-week trial. The prosecution had asked for 25 years, the maximum period of parole ineligibility.

Kozak had already pleaded guilty to manslaughter for his involvement in the death of Luc Dulude, whom he had met in jail. Kozak was sentenced to a concurrent sentence of 11 years for the manslaughter of Dulude.

In an agreed statement of facts presented to the court, Kozak admitted torturing, beating, burning and smothering Leask in the fall of 2008. Kozak, who met Leask in jail, had given him $5,000 to start a marijuana grow op. He hung Leask upside down and beat him over a period of several days before smothering him with a plastic bag. His body was dumped in the ocean off the coast of Campbell River.

Kozak also admitted to confining, torturing and killing Robinson in May 2007 after the homeless man drove off in Kozak’s truck and stole a few items from his trailer in the Shawnigan Lake area.

“Although the victims had seen their share of trouble in life and law, they were members of our society,” said Williams.

Outside court, Leask’s brother Rodney read a prepared statement.

“First, I would like people to know that my brother Kenny was a very good man. He had a sparkling personality, loved to laugh and joke around. He left behind three daughters, two brothers and a mother and father that miss him dearly. He is gone but not forgotten.

“When I first told my mom of Kenny’s death, she said, ‘Why would anyone hurt Kenny? He doesn’t have a malicious bone in his body.’ No parent should outlive their children. As a parent myself, I can’t imagine the pain. It’s hard enough to lose someone, but to have him taken, tortured for days and body dumped in the ocean is unbearable.

“Every time my dad hits his thumb with a hammer or cuts himself, he thinks of the pain and suffering his son endured. I could go on for hours about Kenny and the effects this has had on our family, but to keep it short and the bottom line is, a psychopath like Darcy William Kozak should never go free, and die in prison for the heinous crimes he committed, though I believe even that is too good for him. An eye for an eye!”

-with files from Louise Dickson, Times Colonist