Killer of Calgary Stampeder must serve 18 years before seeking parole

CALGARY — A judge says the killer of a Calgary Stampeders football player is a dangerous man who must serve 18 years of a life sentence before seeking parole.

Nelson Lugela was found guilty earlier this year of second-degree murder in the death of Mylan Hicks.

Hicks, a 23-year-old player on the practice roster of the Canadian Football League Stampeders, was shot outside Calgary’s Marquee Beer Market in 2016.

“You are a dangerous man, Mr. Lugela,” Queen’s Bench Justice Keith Yamauchi said in his written decision Wednesday.

Yamauchi noted a psychiatrist had determined that Lugela is at a high risk to reoffend.

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“It is necessary not only to protect the public from you and prevent you from harming anyone else, but also to deter you and all others from committing such horrible, violent crimes in our community.”

The conviction came with an automatic life sentence, but it was up to the court to determine how soon Lugela, 21, could request parole.

The Crown had asked for between 17 and 19 years, while the defence said 14 years was more appropriate.

The trial heard that several Stampeders, including Hicks, had been celebrating a victory when a disagreement over a spilled drink in the bar intensified in a parking lot after closing time.

Witnesses testified that after some pushing and shoving, a person who appeared to be holding a handgun opened fire at Hicks as he was running for cover.

Hicks was hit twice, in the abdomen and chest, and died in hospital.

Court heard Lugela and two other young men jumped into an SUV and sped away. Three people were arrested about 45 minutes later when they returned to the scene.

Several witnesses identified Lugela as the man holding the gun.

Yamauchi said Lugela’s youth and family support were mitigating factors that pointed to a more lenient sentence.

But they were far outweighed by a long list of aggravating factors, he said. Lugela has a criminal record. He also used an illegal handgun, fired near a crowd and gave no explanation for why he killed Hicks.

“Mr. Hicks was unarmed and, to Mr. Lugela, was a total stranger. Mr. Hicks was defenceless and was trying to escape the situation when Mr. Lugela gunned him down,” Yamauchi wrote.

Hicks’s mother, Renee Hill, said she can move on now that she knows Lugela will be behind bars for at least 18 years.

“He doesn’t get to live in my head rent-free,” she said in an interview outside court. “Nelson Lugela — thing of the past. He’s dead to me.”

She said her son’s legacy will live on.

“Mylan was an awesome guy and this world will suffer as a result of not having Mylan’s presence.”

Hill, who travelled to Calgary from Detroit, told Lugela’s sentencing hearing last week that she’s angry her son survived the crime-filled streets of his hometown only to be gunned down in Canada.

“I felt that Canada had failed my son on multiple fronts,” she said. “Today, they made up.”

Stampeders head coach Dave Dickenson said the team is there to support Hicks’s family.

“He’s still part of us,” he said. “We preach family, and Mylan is still part of the Stampeder family.”

— With files from Donna Spencer in Calgary

Lauren Krugel, The Canadian Press