Statutory release revoked for man convicted of manslaughter twice

A Prince George man serving his second sentence for manslaughter has had his statutory release revoked after he was release earlier this year.

Christopher Clarke Prince pleaded guilty to manslaughter after being charged with second-degree murder in the May 20, 2017 death of Shane Whitford. He was sentenced to three years and seven months in August 2021.

In its decision to revoke his release, the parole board cites as factors Prince’s history, his gambling problem and his failure to take medication to manage addiction and mental health issues that followed his statutory release on March 28.

“Based on the nature and severity of your index offence and previous manslaughter conviction, which demonstrate that you are capable of extreme violence, and the absolute importance that you take your medication as required so that the emotions which contributed to your violence are adequately managed, the board concludes your decision to not take your medication for several days increased your risk to re-offend to an undue level,” the report states. “The board further finds that while you are now taking your medication, you are doing so in the controlled environment of a prison. At this time, the board finds that it would place the public at an undue risk to return you to the community without a longer period of stability in prison.

“For the reasons identified in the previous paragraph, the board concludes that if you are released at this time, you will present an undue risk to society by re-offending before the end of your sentence. Your statutory release is therefore revoked.”

A judicial order issued Sept. 26 revoked Prince’s statutory release and imposed conditions on his next statutory release, which could be later this year. The conditions include bans on alcohol, drugs and gambling and prohibitions against contact with his victims. He must also report all relationships with females to his parole supervisor. In addition, the report notes, Prince has been banned from gambling by the BC Lottery Corp.

The report acknowledges Prince’s cognitive issues, and also states that Prince, who is about 40, has been cooperative with prison and parole officials and answered the board’s questions honestly and to the best of his ability.

At Prince’s sentencing in 2021, Justice Ron Tindale called the death of Whitford “near murder,” but said he was taking into account Prince’s mental health issues and low intelligence as factors in his culpability while accepting the manslaughter plea.

Court heard the two men had gotten into an argument over a woman – Prince’s girlfriend was Whitford’s ex - at a home on the 2100 block of Oak Street. The argument escalated into a fistfight before the group moved to a the lawn of home on Porter Avenue, where Whitford suffered 21 stab wounds. He died later in hospital.

It was alleged during trial that the woman involved had brought the knife to the scene.

Prince was also convicted of manslaughter in 2007, and served his full three-year sentence behind bars, over the 2002 death of his half-brother, Reginald Travis Prince, in Fort St. James. Reginald Prince died after being hit in the head with a hammer while sleeping.