2nd man sentenced in 2021 murder of man in New Westminster
A second man has been sentenced for the 2021 murder of a 51-year-old man in New Westminster, B.C.
Ryan Crossley was sentenced Tuesday to life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 14 years after a jury found him guilty last September of second-degree murder in the death of Robert Powshuk, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) said Thursday.
His brother Curtis Crossley pleaded guilty to manslaughter last August, police said, and was sentenced to nine-and-a-half years without parole eligibility.
An agreed statement of facts said Curtis Crossley pointed a knife at Powshuk and Ryan stabbed him repeatedly on Nov. 19, 2021.
Powshuk was discovered inside a Waves coffee shop on Columbia Street in New Westminster, bleeding heavily from undetermined wounds, investigators said at the time.
Emergency responders provided first aid at the scene and Powshuk was taken to Royal Columbian Hospital where he later died.
Investigators say they canvassed the area for video, and learned Powshuk had been involved in a "violent altercation" with two men who were later identified as Ryan and Curtis Crossley.
In a statement, New Westminster Police Deputy Chief Const. Paul Hyland thanked his officers and IHIT for their work investigating "an extremely graphic and disturbing incident."
