By Canadian Press

Man to be sentenced in gas-and-dash death of Alberta gas station owner

Sep 18, 2020 | 8:21 AM

WETASKIWIN, Alta. — A man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter after an Alberta gas station owner was killed in a gas-and-dash is to be sentenced today in the Court of Queen’s Bench.

Mitchell Robert Sydlowski, who is 29, was charged with second-degree murder but he pleaded guilty to the lesser offence — as well as failing to remain at the scene of a fatal accident — in August.

An agreed statement of facts submitted in the case said 54-year old Ki Yun Jo was killed after Sydlowski sped off in a stolen cube van without paying for $198 of fuel.

It happened outside Jo’s Fas Gas station in Thorsby, about 70 kilometres southwest of Edmonton, on Oct. 6, 2017.

A witness saw Jo hanging onto the van’s passenger side mirror and, when the vehicle swerved, he was tossed to the ground and run over.

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The Crown recommended a sentence of six to eight years, while Sydlowski’s defence lawyer suggested it should be at the lower end of the Crown’s recommendation because of his client’s guilty pleas.

Shortly after Jo’s death, the Alberta government moved to bring in legislation requiring drivers to prepay before filling up at gas stations.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on Sept. 18, 2020

The Canadian Press