Mother of Abbotsford slaying victim upset accused plead to lesser offences

The mother of a man who was fatally shot in an Abbotsford blueberry field in what police initially described as a targeted homicide is upset that the three men charged with murder have pleaded guilty to lesser offences.

On Dec. 28, 2017, the lifeless body of Alexander Blanarou, 24, of Surrey was found in the field near Bates and Harris roads in Abbotsford.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said they believed the slaying was linked to the drug trade and, following an investigation, charges were laid against three men.

Islam Nagem and Edrick Raju were both charged with first-degree murder, while Michael Schweiger was charged with second-degree murder.

The three men were scheduled to go on trial Jan. 3, 2023, before a jury in B.C. Supreme Court but all three have now entered pleas to lesser offences. Nagem pleaded guilty to manslaughter with a firearm and Raju entered a plea to manslaughter with a firearm and conspiracy to commit murder. Schweiger pleaded guilty to accessory after the fact to manslaughter.

On Thursday, Marina Sokolovskaia, the mother of the shooting victim, said she was “very upset” with the plea agreements reached by the Crown and the defence in the three cases, and believed the offences were “very planned and executed.”

The mom said that someone in victims’ services tried to convince her that the pleas to the lesser crimes were the best she could hope for and that there was no guarantee of a conviction had the case gone to trial.

“They said this is the best I could get and I should appreciate it. I’m the lucky one, apparently.”

At an appearance for Schweiger’s guilty plea Monday in a Vancouver courtroom, the Crown said in a brief synopsis that Nagem was one of the persons who shot Blanarou and that when he came out of the field Schweiger was there in his vehicle and took him back to his residence.

Sokolovskaia questioned any suggestion that Schweiger only picked up one of the shooters and didn’t know about what was going on.

“All of a sudden he was on a road just waiting for him?” she asked, adding that she believed the crime had been planned. “They all knew what they were doing.”

The three accused are expected to be sentenced in the new year.

The mom said she wanted to speak as well about how her son became involved in the drug trade in the hopes that it might help at least one other mother who might be facing a similar problem.

She said she and her family were pleased and proud when their teenage son went to a local gym to work out but that he was soon recruited by someone in the drug trade. When she discovered drugs on him, her son denied it and there were fights at home and he left home, she said.

“So it was a big, long battle.”

Though her son was charged several times with drug offences, at the time of the slaying he was trying to get out of the drug trade, she said.

“He was very upset and he was very down and he wanted to get out,” she said. “I was crying, he was crying. I was asking him, ‘Please, you have to stop.’ He goes, ‘You don’t understand, I can’t stop now. I cannot stop, they’re going to kill me.’ And that’s exactly what happened.”

In an email, Dan McLaughlin, communications counsel for the B.C. Prosecution Service, said that as the matter remains before the courts, there would be no comment.

kfraser@postmedia.com

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