A man who pleaded guilty to the one-punch manslaughter of a man in a Vancouver park has been given a 60-day sentence for once again breaching his probation orders.
Jeff Arnie Lincoln of Vancouver pleaded guilty to manslaughter in December 2022 for the August 2021 death of Gilles Hebert, 60, in Grandview Park.
Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Mark Jette had sentenced the 42-year-old Terrace man to 27 months in prison for the guilty plea to manslaughter after he punched an unsuspecting man in the head in the East Vancouver park.
With credit for time served awaiting sentencing, Lincoln, 41, had six months left to serve when he was sentenced on Aug. 30, 2023.
He was also put on probation.
However, Lincoln was allegedly in Burnaby on Jan. 12, four and a half months after sentencing.
Court documents in that instance alleged he failed to report to his probation officer as Jette had ordered. He was sentenced on June 24 to 60 days as a result.
Now, Vancouver Provincial Court Judge Patricia Bond has handed down the same sentence for two more breaches.
The first was that he was selling cigarettes on Aug. 3 at Vancouver’s Commercial Drive and Broadway. That’s within the no-go zone from the manslaughter probation, Bond heard.
He also failed to report to a probation supervisor as ordered.
Bond heard Sept. 12 that Lincoln has been in custody since Aug. 3. With 40 days in custody credited at 1.5 days, he has completed the sentence.
The Hebert attack
It was Aug. 5, 2021, when officers responded to Grandview Park on Commercial Drive for reports of an assault in progress.
An unknown person assaulted Hebert, leaving him unconscious.
Crown prosecutor Jenny Dyck said Hebert fell straight backward with no attempt to break his fall.
He died in hospital later that day.
Defence lawyer Glen Orris said Aug. 28 Lincoln had been told that a man in the park had been aggressive toward an older woman and exposed himself in the park.
Orris said Lincoln’s partner believed Hebert was that man.
“Whether she identified the right person or not, we don’t know,” Orris said.
Dyck countered on Aug. 29, saying, “We can’t have people going out and attacking someone because they think they know something about them.”
Dyck said Lincoln turned his back and walked away, leaving Hebert on the ground.
She said Lincoln’s attack on a man years older than him was “deeply unfair and cowardly.”
Homicide investigators identified a suspect and spent months gathering evidence before making the arrest.
Gilles Hebert
An obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press described Hebert as a gentle soul and a pillar of his community.
He was a volunteer at Britannia Community Centre and was known as a craftsman who loved sculpting stone and wood and did carpentry work.
A victim impact statement from Hebert’s partner, David Parent, called Hebert’s death “a senseless and random act of violence.”
Of his loss, he said, “to say my life will never be the same is an understatement.”
“Gilles was in the wrong place at the wrong time and for that my life is forever changed.”
The court heard Lincoln has a criminal record involving convictions for assaults, mischief and drug offences.
