A jury found John Ike Koopmans guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of Robert Keith Wharton and Rosemary Fox.

Koopmans was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Bradley Martin.

Koopmans was accused of first-degree murder in the shooting deaths of Wharton, 43, and Fox, 32, and the attempted murder of Martin, 50, at a rural Princeton property.

Wharton was shot three times in the head, while Fox sustained wounds to her cheek, chest and ankle. Martin was only shot once.

Following the verdict, Justice Miriam Maisonville asked the jury to give a recommendation on the number of years before parole.

Seven recommended a 15-year minimum related to the Wharton shooting, while five had no recommendation. It was the same for Fox. Nine jurors recommended the sentences be consecutive, one concurrent, and two had no recommendation.

The jury trial began February 25, 2015. The deaths March 30th, 2014.

The sentenced handed out today in BC Supreme Court.

While Martin, the surviving victim, claimed Koopmans was the man who shot him in the chest that night, Koopmans proclaimed his innocence on the witness stand.

Acquaintances of Koopmans described him as even tempered, even a teddy bear, who was friendly with Wharton before the shooting and upset about a friend’s drug use.

source: Castanet