A BC Supreme Court judge sentenced convicted murderer Kenneth Jensen to life in prison for killing George Ammon Kong in his apartment in January last year.
Jensen will be eligible for parole after serving 12 years of the sentence, Justice Mary Humphries ruled.
Humphries said she took into consideration Jensen’s youth, his admission of guilt, lack of a prior record, repeated expressions of remorse for killing Kong and his willingness to accept the consequences of his actions when deciding his sentence.
During the trial which began Jun 2, Crown Counsel Rusty Antonuk said police discovered Kong’s nearly naked body in a bathtub with a hair dryer cord tied around his neck.
Jensen, who initially pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder, first told police he met Kong on the internet dating site plentyofish.com Jan 20, 2007 and arranged to meet at Kong’s home where they ended up having sex before he choked him, dragged him to the bathtub and tied a cord around his neck.
Four days into the trial, Jensen changed his plea to guilty and issued a new statement in which he said he was sorry for what happened to Kong but had lied to police about going to Kong’s home for consensual sex. Rather, he said, he made the online connection with Kong in order to rob and extort him —something Jensen said he had done to other gay men before.
Antonuk told the court that Jensen’s second statement, which describes a potential motive for his actions, should be considered during sentencing. Antonuk also requested that Jensen be ordered to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. Jensen refused.
Humphries said while she took Jensen’s second statement into consideration, Jensen’s refusal to submit to a psychiatric evaluation meant she didn’t have the benefit of further insight into why Jensen murdered Kong. She did find, however, that Jensen acted callously and showed his willingness to use force when he entered Kong’s home.
Kong was 55 years old.
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