Ted Colley
A Surrey man is angry that the woman who provoked the brutal murder of his stepson could be back on the street in as little as 10 years.
Robert Forslund, 29, and Katherine Quinn, 24, were convicted last month of second-degree murder for the July 2, 2005 killing of 16-year-old Matthew Martins.
Both were given the mandatory life sentence that goes with a murder conviction, but while Forslund must serve 17 years before parole eligibility, Quinn will be able to apply for early release in 10 years.
David Toner is Matthew's stepfather.
"She was really the architect of the whole scenario. If she hadn't jumped Matty in the first place, all this never would have happened," Toner said.
The incident began just before 2 a.m. on the street outside the Whalley duplex occupied by Quinn and Forslund. Quinn jumped on Matthew as he walked along the street and tried to steal his neck chain. Matthew, who was just a little over five feet tall and weighed about 120 pounds, stabbed the woman under the arm as they struggled on the ground, inflicting a superficial wound.
Matthew fled on foot to the Surrey Central SkyTrain station where he was tracked down and viciously assaulted by Forslund. Quinn arrived on the scene during the attack and told Forsl und to kill the boy for stabbing her.
Forslund slammed the youth into a Plexiglas wall several times, kicked and stomped his head repeatedly and cut his throat with a broken beer bottle the prosecution said was given to him by Quinn.
"I would have liked to see a longer sentence for her," Toner said.
"She never showed any remorse. Throughout the trial, she was not concerned with anything that happened to anyone else - only with what was happening to her."
Quinn's lawyer has said he will appeal her conviction and her father, Moe, refuses to believe his daughter is anything but innocent.
"Of course I believe that. She's my daughter, isn't she? She wasn't even there," the elder Quinn said during a break in the sentencing hearing Friday.
He also took a verbal swipe at prosecutor Wendy Dawson who convinced a jury his daughter is guilty of murder.
"Ms. Dawson is very good at what she does. I think she should write children's stories."
published on 05/01/2007
