The man who killed a New Westminster woman more than two years ago was sentenced to eight years in prison on Thursday.
Charles Neel was sentenced to eight years in prison minus time served for killing January Marie Lapuz on Sept. 29, 2012.
Neel stabbed Lapuz, a transgender woman who worked in the sex trade, during an altercation over the price of a sexual encounter, according to an agreed statement of facts presented in court last week. Lapuz, 26, died in hospital the following day.
Police arrested Neel on Dec. 5, 2012 and charged him with second-degree murder. In June of this year, prior to the start of his trial, Neel pled guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.
At Thursday’s sentencing hearing, Crown prosecutor Rusty Antonuk stressed, in his submission, that Lapuz was not killed because she was transgender and that her death was the result of an argument.
A sentence of eight years in prison minus time served means Neel will remain behind bars for a remaining five years and three months.
– with files from the Province
