Sandy Parisian sentencing: Court releases video from deadly home invasion

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has granted the release of video that captured two men posed as police officers entering the home of a Vancouver senior – on the same day she would later be found fatally injured.

Police discovered the occupant of the home, 78-year-old Usha Singh, after being called to the property on Jan. 31, 2021.

The court heard that Singh, who lived alone, was lying on the bathroom floor.

“She was unable to speak clearly and could only answer yes or no,” said a Crown prosecutor this week. “She had significant injuries to her head. She had black eyes and was bleeding from her head, ears and nose.”

She was taken to hospital, but later died.

Sandy Jack Parisian, now 50, was originally scheduled to go to trial, but instead pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

The video, which was shown by prosecutors on the opening day of Parisian’s sentencing hearing, shows two men appearing to wear police jackets approach the front door.

One of them can be seen ringing the doorbell, but nobody answers.

Eventually the duo are seen inside the home’s living room, looking under furniture, and walking in and out the room.

At one point, one of them notices the camera and turns it away.

Prosecutors have suggested a sentence of eight years for Parisian, while the defence is seeking a five-year term – which, with credit for time already served in pre-trial custody, would see him released in two years.

The Crown says Parisian’s extensive criminal past, which includes 160 previous convictions, is an aggravating factor. The defence says he has shown remorse by entering a guilty plea.

A second man has been charged with first-degree murder for his alleged role in the death, and is scheduled to stand trial in May.

Justice Kathleen Ker is expected to deliver Parisian’s sentence on March 15.