A man found guilty of manslaughter after throwing a single fatal punch at a Metro Vancouver Starbucks has been sentenced to two years and six days in federal prison plus two years of probation, a decision that had the victim’s mother sobbing in the courtroom.

 

In July 2017, Lawrence Sharpe punched Michael Page-Vincelli in a Starbucks in Burnaby. The 22-year-old victim fell to the floor and hit his head. He died three days later of his injuries.

“He didn't deserve that, he walked away [from a confrontation,” said his mother Steffany Page. “Nobody needs to hurt anybody no matter what the age.”

Leading up to the punch, Page-Vincelli got into a heated argument with Sharpe's girlfriend. Witnesses at the time told CTV News that Page-Vincelli got upset and lashed out at the woman, who had tossed a lit cigarette on the ground.

 

The exchange got heated, and witnesses said Page-Vincelli picked up the cigarette and threw it in the woman's face.

“Kids make mistakes all the time,” Page told reporters outside B.C. Supreme Court Friday. “They do dumb thing, they say dumb things, they behave in wrong ways. That doesn't give you the right…to hit someone."

 

The Crown had asked for a sentence of two to three years in prison, arguing that the punch was a vigilante action against someone who wasn’t a threat. The defence had suggested as little as one year behind bars with longer probation period, arguing that the punch was a spur-of-the-moment action.

 

Surveillance video played in court shows Sharpe walking into the coffee shop. A woman is seen pointing at Page-Vincelli, Sharpe walks up and throws a punch the moment he was within arm’s reach.

 

Sharpe, who is 42 years old, looked downward as the sentence was announced. B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mary Humphries said his grandmother, who’d raised him after his drug-addicted mother couldn’t care from him, had flown in from Detroit to see Sharpe before he was remanded into custody. She was visibly frail as she sat in the front row and dabbed at her eyes as the judge explained her reasons for judgement.

 

Earlier this week, Sharpe appeared in court to hear victim impact statements, and to address the judge directly about the impact the death had on him.

 

"I can't go to the grocery store without shaking like a leaf," he said Tuesday.

 

"I'm sorry for every single square inch of pain … I have been stripped to the bone."

Justice Humphries noted that while she believes Sharpe didn’t intend to kill the younger man, he clearly meant to assault him. He was found guilty of manslaughter.

 

The judge also addressed Page-Vincelli’s family as she gave her reasons for judgement, noting that no punishment she could give would satisfy them and explaining the punishment had to fit the crime, not be an act of vengeance. Justice Humphries also established a long list of conditions for Sharpe for the two years’ probation he will serve after he gets out of prison, including a ban on weapons and a prohibition from contacting the Page or Vincelli families or being anywhere they live or work.

A little more than two years after she lost her eldest son, Steffany Vincelli is still grieving the loss of his presence and their chats and his dreams for the future, but she hopes others will use his story as an example of what can happen when a trivial verbal argument escalates to physical action.

 

"It's not worth it and the best thing you can do is just walk away,” she said.

“It's not worth it. Look at my story, look at my son's story. Nobody ever deserves that.”