A former rising B.C. football player who pleaded guilty to eight counts of breaking and entering, robbery and aggravated assault quoted Mahatma Gandhi prior to being sentenced to four years in prison.
With credit for time already in custody, Terry Houngbo-Gody has 581 days left to serve, Vancouver Provincial Court Judge David St. Pierre said Jan. 8.
Houngbo-Gody, now 31, was charged with: breaking and entering, two counts each of robbery and aggravated assault, using an imitation firearm to commit an offence, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose and masking his face with intent to commit an indictable offence.
The charges stem from a Sept. 23, 2020 Vancouver incident where two people were severely injured from the enforcement of a drug debt.
Houngbo-Gody entered guilty pleas on all counts on Dec. 14.
He told St. Pierre he was sorry for his actions, and that he would accept the court’s decision and work hard to become a better person.
Quoting Gandhi, he said, “Be the change that you want to see in the world.”
“I want to be a positive change for this world,” he said. “I promise I will never let anything like this ever happen again.”
Houngbo-Gody told the judge it has been said many people need to hit rock bottom before they change.
“This is my rock bottom,” he said. “I can’t get any lower than this with me in the courtroom in prison clothes getting sentenced in front of my mother and friends who I truly let down.”
The circumstances
Crown prosecutor Joanna Medjuck told the court Houngbo-Gody was in an unstable situation in Vancouver in 2020 when he found himself selling cocaine in the city’s Downtown Eastside. He was already addicted.
He began working with others to sell drugs.
One man, however, became heavily indebted to Houngbo-Gody. He was torn between debt to his drug supplier and being able to pay first and last month's rent on a West End apartment, Medjuck said.
With two other men and a female youth, Houngbo-Gody left downtown Vancouver for the Commercial Drive neighbourhood in a cab. He stopped to buy rubber gloves and masks on the way.
The indebted man was in the house; he heard banging on his door and told whoever it was to go away. The banging continued so he answered the door, saw a man in a mask and slammed the door. It was then kicked in.
The resident was then punched in the face by one of the men. The other man pointed an imitation pistol at him. He was then pistol-whipped.
Medjuck said Houngbo-Gody then put the victim in a headlock while one of the two men hit him in the knees with a metal object. The victim suffered skull fractures, head and eye injuries and kneecap deformities.
Houngbo-Gody did not bring a weapon and did not know the men who came with him were armed, Medjuck told the judge. But, St. Pierre later noted, Houngbo-Gody did not retreat as the serious assaults took place.
Meanwhile, one of the masked men went into a bedroom and attacked a woman there. She suffered eye and face injuries and required reconstructive surgery with metal plates in parts of her face as well as an offset jaw and post-traumatic stress disorder.
One of the alleged attackers was convicted while another was acquitted. The female youth got a two-year supervision order.
In recommending a four-year sentence to St. Pierre, the Crown lawyer said the sentence would have immigration consequences for Houngbo-Gody. He has permanent resident status.
“I’m truly heartbroken for the victims and I wish I could rewind the clock to that tragic day and take it all back,” Houngbo-Gody told St. Pierre. “I never wanted for them to get hurt for my poor choices and actions.”
“I ask the victims and their families for forgiveness,” he said.
Houngbo-Gody’s past
In addressing the court, Houngbo-Gody acknowledged he had a privileged upbringing. His stepfather worked for the United Nations and his mother was a nurse at consulates.
However, the court heard, the family’s position led to upheavals, changes in schools and him spending time supporting his siblings as his parents worked.
The former B.C. Football Conference’s Westshore Rebels’ running back was born in the Central African Republic. He moved to the United States at age two and then headed to Quebec in his late teens. He arrived in B.C. in 2013.
Medjuck said Houngbo-Gody, who is Black, experienced racism while at private school but learned to bottle up his anger and not to ask for help. He could not express anger as others might as it could appear frightening, the court heard.
Despite that, she said, his siblings said he always looked out for them and would ward off bullies. But, “he began to lose touch with his inner voice, his true feelings.”
A good student, Houngbo-Gody had been heading toward a professional sports career on scholarships.
However, a conviction in Ottawa in 2014 and an injury impacted his return to the team. He was benched and his contract not renewed even as he worked toward a kinesiology degree.
“He felt completely adrift by this time,” Medjuck said.
Soon, his girlfriend was pregnant. He dropped out of school and he was being pressured to marry her and find work. When his parents found out, they cut him off, the court heard.
He arrived at the conclusion he could make money faster through the drug network of the woman’s brother’s.
He was buying, selling and using cocaine and using it during night construction work to stay awake, Medjuck said.
Statement to the court
Houngbo-Gody admitted to St. Pierre he was involved in a violent offence but said his words to the court were not meant to minimize his involvement or point blame elsewhere.
He said his roots growing up were not stable and finding out at age seven that the man he called Dad was not his biological father left him lost.
“I came to this province to recreate myself,” Houngbo-Gody said.
Instead, he made poor decisions, including the start of a substance abuse problem, he told the judge.
“I had no one to turn to," Houngbo-Gody said. “I had no way to communicate my emotions.”
The allegations in the case led to Houngbo-Gody being put on Crime Stoppers' most wanted list for the week of May 29, 2022.
