{.

March 20, 1992 $2 pages

Office, Editorial 985-2131

pers sentenced |

Stiff jail terms handed out to
pair involved in abduction of
WYV millionaire’s daughter

TWO MEN who pleaded guilty to charges of kidnapping,
extortion and unlawful confinement in connection with the
Dec. 21, 1990 abduction of Cynthia Kilburn, daughter of
West Vancouver millionaire Jim Pattison, received stiff jail
terms Thursday in B.C. Supreme Court.

Mr. Justice K.E, Meredith
sentenced Chadwick Shayne
Mulvahill, 22, of no fixed address,
to life in prison, and Christian
Snelgrove, 20, of North Van-
couver, to 13 years in prison for
their roles in the kidnapping.

The sentences terminated a
highly-publicized trial that began
Jan. 12.

In handing down the sentences,
Justice Meredith described the ac-
tions of Mulvahill and Snelgrove
as ‘‘barbazous,’’ saying the pair
executed ‘‘a_ get-rich-quick
scheme at the expense of Mrs.
Kilburn and family members.’’

The judge said that Kilburn’s
emergence from the mismanaged
and ill-conceived scheme unscath-
ed was “providence. The more
hair-brained the scheme the
greater the risk to life.”

In handing down the 13-year
term to Snelgrove, Justice
Meredith acknowledged
Snelgrove’s subsidiary role in the
abduction, saying Snelgrove aided
but did not originate the kidnapp-
ing scheme.

At last Friday’s pre-sentence
hearing, Crown prosecutor Saudra
Watson called for a life sentence
for Mulvahill and a 10- to 18-
year jail term for Snelgrove.

Defence counsel, arguing that
both Snelgrove and Mulvahill had
expressed genuine remorse for
their actions, pressed for a 12- to
15-year term for Mulvahill and
five- to seven-year sentence for
Sneigrove.

Mulvahill and Snelgrove plead-
ed guilty Jan. 20, minutes before
Cynthia Kilburn was scheduled to
testify. The pleas cut short a
scheduled six-week trial.

At their Jan. 13 pre-sentence
hearing, both Miulvahill and

By Robin Brunet
Contributing Writer

Snelgrove offered belated apolo-
gies to Kilburn and her husband,
who were sitting in the courtroom.

“I’m extremely disgusted with
myself and wish I could turn back
the clock, but I can’t,”’ said
Snelgrove. ‘“‘l hope the punish-
ment I receive will satisfy (the
Kilburn family’s) desire to see
justice satisfied.’’

Said Mulvahill: ‘‘I’ve spent one
year and three months considering
what I’ve donc. It's a serious and
heinous crime, and I acknowledge
full responsibility for my ac-
tions.””

Mulvahill was the apparent
mastermind of the kidnapping
scheme in which Cynthia Kilburn
was taken from her North Van-
couver home at gunpoint and held
for 12 hours at various locations
while Mulvahill and Snelgrove at-
tempted to extort $8.5 million
from Pattison.

They wound up receiving a
‘“‘down-payment’’ ransom of
$200,000.

The kidnapping fell apart when
Mulvahill, after collecting the ran-
som that had been dropped off at
the downtown Vancouver Bay
department store, failed to make
contact with his cohorts, panick-
ed, and fled with the money.

Morth Vancouver RCMP of-
ficers arrested Mulvahill the day
after the kidnapping at the Park
Royal shopping mall, where
Mulvahill was concluding a $9,000
spending spree.

Snelgrove and the young of-
fenders were arrested a short time
later.

& Automotive
@ Classified Ads

W@ Editoriai Page .
Home & Garden

@ Trevor Lautens

@ Mailbox ...

@ Paul St. Pierre ... o
What's Going On ...

Saturday & Sunday, mainly sunny. Highs to 15°C, lows 3°C.
Second Class Registration Number 3885

TIHE VOICE OF NORTH AND WEST VANCOUVER

Display Advertising 980-0511

Classifieds 986-6222

Test drive Suzuki's
four-door Sidekick

Automotive: 29

Distribution 986-1337 25¢

Ambleside sunset

EIGHT-YEAR-OLD Amir Pourdad admires a bright sunset off the pier at

Ambleside Landing in West Vancouver.