SHOOTING VICTIM TARGETED, POLICE SAY

Man Gunned Down In Coquitlam Had History Of Drug Convictions

A man killed by gunshots this week in a Coquitlam business district had
previously been convicted of drug offences, court documents show.

The RCMP identified the shooting victim Friday as Peter Jacob Derksen,
whose body was found Wednesday by Coquitlam RCMP near the corner of Tupper
Avenue and Brunette Avenue.

"We don't believe this was a random attack," Coquitlam RCMP Constable Jane
Baptista said Friday.

She said she could not provide any additional details of the death, other
than to say Derksen was shot. He lived in Coquitlam.

Derksen had twice been convicted of drug charges. In 1982, he was named as
co-conspirator with several others who were charged with importing heroin
into Canada.

But during the trial, it became clear that the imported drug in the alleged
conspiracy was not heroin but cocaine.

A jury convicted the co-accused in 1985, but the court of appeal later set
aside the convictions. That ruling was upheld in 1990 by the Supreme Court
of Canada in a 7-0 decision written by Justice Beverley McLachlin, who
refused to allow the prosecution to amend the charge to replace the word
heroin with cocaine.

"It would be unfair and prejudicial to the accused ... to permit an
amendment fundamentally and retroactively changing the nature of what the
Crown must prove," McLachlin wrote.

In 1986, in an unrelated case, Derksen was convicted of cocaine trafficking
and received a $1,500 fine, plus two years of probation.

He was charged in 1997 in Surrey with possession of marijuana for the
purpose of trafficking but later pleaded guilty to simple possession. He
was fined $5,000 and prohibited from possessing a cellular phone or pager.

Those conditions, however, were later set aside by the B.C. Court of
Appeal, which also reduced the fine to $1,500.

The charge stemmed from an incident on April 16, 1997, when Surrey RCMP
officers in the burglary section observed suspicious activity at a
residence and followed a van as it left the residence.

The van stopped of its own accord after about five minutes and the driver,
Derksen, got out. He agreed to allow police to search his vehicle. Found in
the glove box was $1,300 in cash. Found in the back of the vehicle were
three zip-lock bags each containing half a pound (about 250 grams) of
marijuana with an estimated street value of $3,900.

Derksen told police he knew the marijuana was in the back of the van but he
said the drugs belonged to his boss, Troy Charlton. Derksen said he had
rented the van while working for All Clean Pressure Washing.

At the time of sentencing, the judge was told that Derksen, then 43, had
graduated from high school in Vancouver and then moved to Vancouver Island.
His past employment included working as a truck driver, sawmill worker and
running a motorcycle repair shop.

In 1999, Derksen worked for Aspen Tree Service as a tree technician, making
$10 per hour.