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The exposure to violence convicted double-murderer Gerald David Benn received as a child was a significant factor in his violent conduct when he fatally shot two men, a Calgary judge said Wednesday.

Justice Nick Devlin said Benn’s tragic upbringing, which included physical, psychological and sexual abuse as he moved from foster home to foster home was a significant contributor to his conduct.

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As a result, the Calgary Court of King’s Bench judge said the 20-year period of parole ineligibility sought by Crown prosecutor Jack Kelly was not justified in Benn’s case.

Instead, Devlin ordered Benn to serve a minimum 15 years before he can seek parole and a full return to society, a period closer to the 13 years proposed by defence lawyer Andrea Urquhart.

The Calgary judge, speaking to relatives of Benn’s two victims, said they should not take the 15-year period as an indication of the value of their slain loved ones’ lives.

“The court heard (through a series of victim impact statements) and sees your pain,” Devlin said addressing a large contingent of family members of shooting victims Mohamed Shaikh and Abas Ibrahim.

“What happened was wrong, terribly terribly wrong,” he said.

“The sentence that I’m about to pass … as a number does not put a price on their lives.”

Benn, 26, was convicted by Devlin of two counts of second-degree murder in connection with the Aug. 28, 2020, fatal shootings of Shaikh and Ibrahim on a northwest Calgary street during a botched drug deal.

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Benn shot the two victims, along with a third man, Dimetri Marr, as they sat in a car on a suburban roadway.

Devlin found an armed Benn raced to the vehicle when his friend, Jordan Ward, was forced into the car and ruled he didn’t intend to kill his victims but intended to cause them bodily harm and was reckless as to whether they died.

Because he didn’t find an intention for the victims to die, he acquitted Benn on a charge of attempted murder for shooting Marr.

In handing Benn an automatic life sentence, which means he’ll only be released if parole officials deem him rehabilitated, Devlin noted his “horrific” upbringing inured him to violence.

“In many respects Mr. Benn epitomizes the maxim that hurt people hurt other people,” the judge said.

“There’s a very important difference between bad people and people who do bad things. You did a very bad thing, but I don’t think you’re a bad person.”

Devlin noted Benn learned early on in life that violence can be an effective tool.

“At an early age Mr. Benn turned violent against his abusive foster mother and learned that violence controlled people because she stopped abusing him after that.”

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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