B.C.

men convicted of killing six people say cells covered in

feces and blood (05/28/15)

VANCOUVER - Two men convicted of first-degree murder in a mass execution that left six dead
are suing the British Columbia government for alleged abuses they suffered while awaiting trial.
Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston say they were held in solitary confinement without
adequate cause for 14 months after their arrests in April 2009.

RCMP officers search the property surrounding an apartment building where six people died in
a mulitple homicide in Surrey, B.C. Wednesday, Oct. 24, 2007. Two men convicted of firstdegree murder in a mass execution that left six people dead are suing the British Columbia
government for their alleged mistreatment in prison.Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston
were also convicted of conspiracy in the October 2007 deaths in a Surrey highrise. THE
CANADIAN PRESS/Jonathan Hayward
The men claim they were kept in cells smeared with feces and blood, denied visits with family,
exposed to light 24 hours a day and video recorded constantly even when using the toilet.
"The plaintiff's emotions would fluctuate suddenly between anger, bitterness and fear. The
plaintiff began to feel like he was no longer the same person," Johnston's statement of claim
says.
"He became despondent and was wholly powerless to change his circumstances."
Haevischer and Johnston were each convicted of conspiracy and six counts of first-degree
murder in the deaths of six people in a highrise condo unit in Surrey, B.C., in October 2007.
The Crown's theory was that the Red Scorpions gang plotted to murder a rival drug trafficker but
that five others, including a neighbour and a fireplace repairman, were also killed to eliminate
witnesses.

Haevischer and Johnston have since appealed the verdicts, and on Wednesday filed separate
notices of civil claim seeking damages for violations of their Charter rights.
Haevischer said that after his arrest he was placed in solitary confinement in the Surrey Pretrial
Centre, where he was moved between filthy cells, had no access to a television or radio and
was denied visits with his daughter for two months.
After he was moved to the Vancouver Island Regional Correction Centre, he was kept in
segregation and spent one month in an observation cell with a glass wall that allowed guards
and inmates to see him at all times, the claim alleges.
Johnston said in his claim that when he complained about the blood and feces smeared on cell
walls at Fraser Regional Correction Centre, he was told to clean it up with toilet paper and tap
water.
He suffered panic attacks and memory problems and began singing and talking to himself, the
claim said.
Both say they suffer from anxiety and mental health problems as a result.
None of the allegations has been tested in court.
The Justice Ministry said it could not comment as the case is before the courts, but B.C.
Corrections has the authority to confine individuals if they are believed to be a danger to
themselves or others, are at risk of harm or are a security risk to a facility.
The men claim they were told on various occasions that they were being segregated because
they faced harm from other inmates or posed a danger to others. But both men dispute these
reasons, saying they had no behavioural problems.
The lawsuits allege that wardens were acting on orders from the RCMP team that had
investigated the so-called Surrey Six killings.
Both men were released from solitary confinement in June 2010, after a judge ruled that Jamie
Bacon, the alleged Red Scorpion gangster who is still awaiting trial, was treated cruelly and
unusually while in segregation.
In that case, a B.C. Supreme Court judge ruled that the warden at Surrey Pretrial Centre acted
improperly by placing Bacon in confinement and restricting his mail, visits and phone calls under
police influence.
After Haevischer and Johnston were convicted in October 2014, their lawyers applied for a stay
of proceedings because of the alleged abuses they suffered. But a judge ruled the matter was
best dealt with in civil court.