A man serving a life sentence for fatally stabbing a 19-year-old Burnaby man in a swarming attack in Whistler five years ago intends to apply to Canada’s highest court for leave to appeal his sentence, according to a Crown prosecutor.
Louay Zouhairy was two weeks away from his 18th birthday when he stabbed Luka Gordic in the heart during an attack by up to 15 youths outside of a 7-Eleven in Whistler on the 2015 May long weekend.
Because of the seriousness of his crime, Zouhairy was sentenced as an adult to life in prison with no chance of parole for seven years – and a publication ban cloaking his identity as a young offender expired 60 days after an appeal of his sentence was dismissed by the B.C. Court of Appeal in June.
On Thursday, Gordic’s family found out that Zouhairy now has a new lawyer and intends to apply to appeal his sentence at the Supreme Court of Canada.
“If the leave to appeal application is granted, the SCC will proceed to hear the appeal based on written and oral arguments, similar to the process at the B.C. Court of Appeal,” stated a letter from Crown prosecutor David Layton to Gordic’s mother, Clara Gordic.
Layton said the Supreme Court will only agree to hear the appeal if Zouhairy can show his case raises “a novel or important question of law.”
“This is a demanding test, and only about 15% of leave to appeal applications are successful,” Layton said.
He said he expected Zouhairy’s lawyer to file his written materials in the next six to nine weeks, and then the Crown will have 30 days to file a written response.
It usually takes about two to four months after the parties’ materials are filed for the SCC to release its decision on the leave application, according to Layton, and the SCC simply allows or dismisses the application, not giving any reasons for doing so.
Gordic had been in Whistler with some friends for a B.C. Day long weekend trip when he was stabbed to death outside a 7-Eleven at 12:34 a.m. on May 17, 2015.
Zouhairy stabbed Gordic three times, including a fatal stab to the heart, and later told a psychiatrist that killing him had been almost a religious experience, according to court documents.
“I recall looking at him in the eye … there was fear,” Zouhairy told the psychiatrist.
Zouhairy said his “life got brighter” in an instant.
“I felt woke,” Zouhairy said. “That God just slapped me right in the face … Something super, powerful, gave me a punch right in the heart. An electric shock of clarity. I came back to earth that second he looked at me. We made eye contact – my knife was still in him.”
The attack took just 17 seconds but left devastation in its wake.
“I have PTSD,” Clara Gordic told the NOW during a recent phone call. “I think about it every day. It doesn’t leave you. I can take medication, this and that, but you never forget. Our whole family, it doesn’t matter what we do, Luka’s always on our mind.”
The attack was sparked by a message Gordic had sent to 18-year-old Arvin Golic earlier that night, confronting him about mistreating his ex-girlfriend and telling him to stop.
Golic was later convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to seven years in prison for his role in the attack.
Golic and Zouhairy had been best friends since meeting in Grade 5, according to court documents, and the pair had descended into a life of crime together by the time of Gordic’s killing.
Zouhairy, who attended Burnaby Central Secondary before being expelled in Grade 9 and then being expelled from an alternate program, estimated he’d robbed people of cell phones and cash near a transit station 10 to 15 times before being convicted of assault in 2014 for a robbery with Golic, according to court documents.
After that, Zouhairy said he started robbing street-level drug dealers, who carry large sums of money.
“These robberies involved him carrying a gun, which he cocked to intimidate or used to pistol-whip his victims,” states a February 2019 sentencing ruling by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Terence Schultes.
Zouhairy was born in Saudi Arabia and lived there until he was about 10, according to court documents.
The family came to Canada in 2008, originally living in Burnaby.
While his other family members are now Canadian citizens, Zouhairy currently has only his permanent resident status, which “may have implications for him” after he serves his sentence, according to Schultes’s ruling.
Clara Gordic said she’d like to see Zouhairy deported.
“He should be sent back,” she said.
