By Dan Ferguson
Apr 29 2007
Recently, the younger brother of Matthew Martins used the name of his murdered sibling instead of his own to sign a form at school.
He told his mother it was because he wanted to make sure no one forgot Matthew.
Sandra Martins-Toner wept as she described the emotional impact on her family of losing her oldest child.
She was reading her victim impact statement at the Friday B.C. Supreme Court sentencing hearing for the two Surrey residents convicted of murdering the 16-year-old.
Robert Allan Forslund, 29 and Katherine Anne Quinn, 24 stared at the floor while Martins-Toner said her younger son keeps his older brother’s shoes at the foot of his bed and wears them when he wants to feel close to Matthew.
Sometimes he’ll wear one of Matthew’s old shirts for the same reason.
Martins’ other brother sleeps in Matthew’s old room, keeping it just the way Matthew left it.
He leaves the lights on at night and sometimes his mother can hear him crying for Matthew to come back.
“The toll that this has taken on us can never be repaired,” Martins-Toner said, her voice shaking with emotion.
She isn’t sure she can ever forgive the people responsible.
“I pray that my son’s face and the sound of his screams haunt them for the rest of their days.”
The slightly built 5’2” Martins happened to be walking by a Whalley house party on July 2, 2005 when Quinn, one of the party-goers, decided she wanted the neck chain and cross that Martins was wearing.
There was a scuffle, and Quinn suffered what a doctor would later describe as a “superficial laceration” under her left armpit.
Martins fled, followed by Forslund, a brawny man well over six feet tall.
He caught up with Martins at the Surrey Central SkyTrain Station, where he administered a six-minute beating recorded by SkyTrain security cameras.
A witness to the attack testified that Quinn urged her boyfriend on, telling him Martins had stabbed her.
“If you love me, you’ll kill him!” Quinn allegedly shouted.
A jury found the pair guilty of second-degree murder, which means an automatic sentence of life in prison.
Crown prosecutor Wendy Dawson said Forslund should serve at least 20 years before he can ask for supervised release, while Quinn should wait 12 to 14 years before she’s allowed to seek parole.
Forslund has an “extensive” criminal record and a history of violence, Dawson said, while Quinn set the events in motion that led to Martins’ death.
“She gave the command to kill” Dawson said.
Dawson said a few days before Martins was attacked, Quinn started a fight in a Surrey pub and ordered her boyfriend to finish it, saying “if you love me, you’ll punch this guy out.”
That brought Quinn defence lawyer Jim Millar to his feet, insisting there was insufficient evidence to confirm the bar fight account.
Millar said Quinn, a mother of three children aged five, seven and nine, should be allowed to apply for parole after 10 years, the minimum wait under Canadian law.
Forslund lawyer Karen Bastow said her client should get 12.
Speaking in a soft voice, Forslund made a brief apology before the sentence was set.
“I’m sorry that I killed Matthew Martins,” he said.
“I’m sorry from the start. That’s all I have to say.”
In his decision, Justice Selwyn Romilly said Forslund must wait 17 years before he can apply for parole, while Quinn will wait the minimum of 10.
