B.C. man sentenced to life in prison for double murder of Kamloops brothers
CBC
A Naramata, B.C., man was handed a life sentence Tuesday for the gruesome killings of two brothers murdered during a drug deal in May 2021.
A B.C. Supreme Court judge found Wade Cudmore guilty of two counts of second-degree murder in September in the killings of Erick and Carlo Fryer.
The 35-year-old watched from prison via video Tuesday as Justice Brenda Brown gave him a life sentence without the possibility of parole for 18 years — meaning he won't be able to apply for any form of release until May 2039, once time served is factored in.
Cudmore's sentencing hearing began on Monday with submissions from Crown and defence, and emotional victim impact statements from members of the Fryer family.
Crown asked for two sentences of life in prison with no parole for 18 years. Cudmore's defence team wanted a sentence of life in prison with no parole for 12 years.
The bodies of the Fryers were found by hikers just hours after they were killed on May 10, 2021, in a ravine off the Naramata Forest Service Road. The brothers had been shot, stabbed and beaten in the head.
A second man, Anthony Graham, was also charged in the Fryer murders but remains at large.
In her victim impact statement, the mother of the Fryers told the court all she can do is cry.
"My heart is torn in a million pieces," sobbed Jane Dela Paz. "I don't celebrate Mother's Day. I stay home and go to the cemetery to visit Carlo and Erick and bring them flowers."
Carlo Fryer's wife said the couple's daughter was only a year and a half old when her father and uncle were killed.
"Carlo only got to celebrate his daughter's first birthday with her. She just turned five at the end of October," said Kaylee Fryer. "My daughter didn't get to know who her dad truly was, and she never will."
Sister Cyperuz Jade Fryer addressed Cudmore directly during her victim impact statement.
"I have so many questions for you that will forever go unanswered. I will never know if they saw each other die. I will never know if they suffered. I will never know their last words," she said. "There aren't enough words to describe what you took."
Cudmore sat hunched forward with his hands folded in the protected prisoner's box, wearing a light grey suit, white collared shirt, glasses, with close cropped hair and a slight beard.
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