Crown prosecutor Ariel Bultz says 21-year-old Arunjit Virk should go to prison for three years for carrying a loaded, illegal ghost gun around Burnaby’s busy Metrotown mall in March 2021.
“This is a crime gun; there’s no other way to put it,” Bultz said at a sentencing hearing in Vancouver provincial court Wednesday.
Defence lawyer David Karp proposed a conditional sentence (a jail term served in the community) of between 18 and 24 months, but Bultz argued that would be an “unfit” sentence given the “dangerousness of the offence.”
He pointed to the fact the Polymer80 kit gun had no safety and there was a bullet chambered in the firearm as he was carrying it around the Metropolis at Metrotown mall on March 28, 2021.
Bultz also noted Virk hadn’t done well on bail since his arrest for that incident, and a psychiatric report prepared in the case had found him a “moderate risk to reoffend.”
But Karp countered by saying the psych report should be thrown out.
He said Virk’s family had told him the interview that formed the basis of the report had lasted for only 11 minutes via video conference when it should have lasted hours.
“This report does nothing to assist the court, so I’m going to be suggesting it should be given absolutely no value,” Karp said.
But Bultz noted the report writer said Virk had not been co-operative during the interview.
Bultz said the author of the report is a professional with a duty to the court who produced a seven-page document with all the information he was given.
“I think the report stands for this court purpose,” Bultz said. “Mr. Virk’s lack of purported co-operation, while it may be unfortunate for him at these proceedings, it’s a result of his own doing.”
In the end, however, B.C. provincial court Judge Reginald Harris adjourned the sentencing and ordered three new reports – a psychological assessment, a presentence report and a technical suitability report.
"It's unfortunate that it's at this stage," Harris said
"Sentencing should occur as soon as practicable after the events, but sentencing also involves fulsome information before the court."
Technical suitability reports are prepared when electronic monitoring is being considered as part of a sentence.
A new sentencing date has been set for Sept. 13, 2023.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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