The mother-in-law of a woman killed in a mass stabbing at a North Vancouver, B.C., library two years ago has told a sentencing hearing that her attacker is a "monster" who stole from her son a life with the woman he loved.
Crown and defence lawyers have jointly suggested a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years for the man who stabbed a woman to death and injured several other victims at a North Vancouver library two years ago.
Yannick Bandaogo, 30, pleading guilty this year to second-degree murder, several charges of attempted murder and one count of aggravated assault over the March 2021 attack.
The murdered woman's mother-in-law has told the British Columbia Supreme Court in New Westminster that her son and the victim had been planning to build a life together in Canada, and her death devastated everyone who knew the young woman.
She says Bandaogo "robbed" the victim's families, in a statement prompting Bandaogo to momentarily bow his head.
The names of the murdered woman and her family are under a publication ban at the sentencing hearing, which began Wednesday and is scheduled to continue before Justice Geoffrey R.J. Gaul into Friday.
Bandaogo is facing a mandatory life sentence on the murder charge with a non-parole period to be determined by the judge.
Second-degree murder carries a mandatory life sentence, with a non-parole period of 10 to 25 years.
Six people were injured in the attack in and around the Lynn Valley Library. The victims ranged in age from 22 to 78.
