Langford man sentenced to life for murder of single mother

In a sentencing hearing held this week, Anthony Singh Dheensaw, 38, was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole for 14 years for the murder of Angela Dalman. He was also sentenced to nine years for attempted murder, which he will serve concurrently.

Details of what happened on Mar. 6, 2020 were revealed for the first time at the sentencing hearing, since because Dheensaw pled guilty there was no trial.

The murder was a case of mistaken identity, the court heard. Dalman had a similar stature to the person Dheensaw was targeting: the girlfriend of the man who had evicted Dheensaw from his home. He shot her once with a rifle, and she had no signs of life by the time she was brought to Victoria General Hospital.

Dalman, 40 at the time of the murder, had a son, Austin, who is now 18. Her friends and family remembered her as a loving and generous person.

“Everyone says they were her best friend, because that’s really how she made people feel,” said friend Lisa Robertson on Tuesday outside the courtroom.

A few days before the murder, Dheensaw asked Derrick Oke for a place to stay, and Oke let him sleep in his living room for a couple of days. But Oke and his girlfriend, Kelly Groves, were moving and needed Dheensaw to leave. He refused, and Oke called on some friends to get Dheensaw out of the house.

He ended up at a trailer on Florence Lake Road where Robert Brand had a rifle. Dheensaw and Brand drove back to Oke’s house with the gun.

Meanwhile, Dalman had arrived to have a farewell drink with the couple. Dheensaw saw Dalman with Oke, and mistook her for Oke’s girlfriend. The gun misfired at first. He shot again and hit Dalman. The bullet entered her right shoulder and exited through the left. Dheensaw shot at Oke, but the gun misfired. Oke ran, and when Dheensaw shot again he missed.

Dheensaw was arrested the next day, and pled guilty.

Multiple sclerosis symptoms put Dheensaw on downward spiral

The court heard that Dheensaw had been on a downward spiral in the months before the shooting. Five years before he had been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, a deteriorating condition that made him unable to work in trades as he had been, and left him in chronic pain. Dheensaw was using cocaine and alcohol, and was high on cocaine at the time of the murder.

Not long after graduating from Belmont Secondary School in Langford, Dheensaw started using cocaine and ran afoul of the law. His criminal record began in 2002 with an impaired driving charge, but continued with charges of assault, possession of controlled substances, and then possession of a firearm without a licence.

In 2006 he turned his life around, the court heard. He went to school for pipe fitting and became a fire sprinkler technician. He worked as a fitter for several years before going back to school where he earned a business administration diploma.

Then came multiple sclerosis, which forced him to stop working and visual impairment meant he couldn’t easily read or study. He faced a life with a degenerative nervous system disorder and no prospects of a career, Justice Catherine Wedge read in her sentencing decision. Around that time he turned again to cocaine and alcohol, and then was the victim in an unprovoked stabbing attack. He recovered, but had post-traumatic stress disorder from the incident and while he was referred to a counselor, his drug use escalated.

In May 2019, he went to a three-month rehabilitation program, but the food caused his MS to flare up and he left. But he stayed sober, got another trades certificate and a new job in November. But three weeks in, it was clear his body was not able to perform the job.

“As his council noted, at the age of 35 Mr. Dheensaw was facing the reality that he’d never be able to maintain a career. He was disheartened that he had no job, no prospects, and his health was declining. By Feb. 2020, his addiction relapsed and he was drinking regularly,” the judge read.

Justice Catherine Wedge said the fact that the incident was unprovoked by Dalman, and Dheensaw’s criminal history and breach of bail conditions, were aggravating factors in the sentencing. But she said his guilty plea was a significant mitigating factor.

“True remorse and acceptance of responsibility are demonstrated not by words, which come easily, but by a plea which removes any hope of acquittal and accepts a very significant punishment which will take away Mr. Dheensaw’s prime years of his life,” Justice Wedge said.

She also spoke about the support Dheensaw has from his family, who are committed to supporting his rehabilitation. Having been in custody for two years, Dheensaw has participated in education programs and is working towards psychology education by correspondence.

A life sentence is mandatory for second-degree murder, but the maximum number of years without parole can be up to 25. She accepted the joint submission from Crown and defence lawyers which asked for 14 years without parole.