8-year sentence for man guilty in 2019 Surrey stabbing death

A Surrey man who pleaded guilty to manslaughter has been handed an eight-year sentence by a B.C. Supreme Court judge.

Court documents posted online show that 29-year old Jordan Bottomley was originally charged with first-degree murder for his role in the 2019 stabbing death of Andrew Baldwin.

However, Crown counsel "agreed to a plea to the offence of manslaughter" partway through the trial instead.

The decision shows that Bottomley and Baldwin were both engaged in the drug trafficking trade, and lived together for a short time in the summer of 2019.

Baldwin held a higher position in the trafficking operation, and would direct Bottomley regarding the sale of drugs — occasionally supplying drugs for free to Bottomley himself.

By fall, the pair's friendship had deteriorated, however. Baldwin was also receiving threats from a higher-up in the drug trafficking operation over a debt Baldwin owed to him.

The day before Baldwin was killed, he told his mother that he was worried because someone was after him.

"Yet, Mr. Baldwin also assured Ms. Macdonald that she need not worry, and showed her a knife he was carrying," the ruling from Justice Martha Devlin reads.

"This caused Ms. Macdonald concern, given that her other son, Keith Baldwin, had been killed a few weeks prior. However, Mr. Baldwin assured his mother that he would be fine."

On Nov. 11, 2019, Baldwin was at a friend's house when an intruder wearing all black and with sunglasses on their face burst through the door and began attacking Baldwin. The decision notes that the intruder was, in fact, Bottomley.

Baldwin's friend, identified in the decision as A.B., testified that he grabbed a machete to try and get the intruder off of Baldwin. In the ensuing struggle, the judge said Bottomley sustained injuries to his head, shoulder, arms, and hands.

"Suddenly, the wrestling stopped and Mr. Baldwin rolled back and fell on the floor, leaning up against the couch," Devlin wrote.

"A.B. could see the intruder no longer had sunglasses on as he looked at A.B. The intruder said nothing, got up from the loveseat, made a stabbing motion towards A.B. and left the residence. All of the events inside the residence transpired in just over a minute."

Paramedics attended to Baldwin, but he eventually died of his injuries. A post-mortem examination found Baldwin had suffered 10 sharp force injury wounds and one blunt force injury wound.

Devlin described several victim impact statements from Baldwin's family as "profoundly moving and emotional." 

"Ms. Macdonald, Andrew's mother … described the pain and anguish she suffers every day. In her words, 'Our lives were torn apart — shattered into a million pieces' by the death of Andrew. Sadly, Ms. Macdonald's sorrow is compounded by the fact that she lost her other son, Keith Baldwin, mere weeks before Andrew's death," Devlin wrote.

"Her sadness was palpable. Remarkably, despite her unimaginable heartbreak, Ms. Macdonald expressed her genuine forgiveness towards Mr. Bottomley."

A.B., meanwhile, told the court that the impact on his life of witnessing the fatal attack on his friend has been profound. 

Bottomley also addressed the court, expressing remorse and apologies for his actions that Devlin found to be "genuine and sincere". 

Bottomley was sentenced to eight years imprisonment for manslaughter. With time served, his sentence will be three years and 38 days.