A Vancouver man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the August 2021 death of an East Vancouver man.
Jeff Arnie Lincoln is now awaiting sentencing in Vancouver Provincial Court. He was arrested on New Year's Eve 2021 following a five-month-long Vancouver Police Department (VPD) investigation into the death of Gilles Hebert, 60, in Grandview Park last August.
Officers responded to Grandview Park on Commercial Drive on Aug. 5, 2021 after they received reports of an assault in progress.
Police discovered an unknown person had assaulted Hebert, leaving him unconscious. He died in hospital later that day.
Lincoln had earlier pleaded not guilty and faced a judge-alone trial in Vancouver provincial court.
Jeff Arnie Lincoln had also faced charges of assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose.
It's not yet clear what will happen with those charges.
Judge Kathryn Denhoff put the case to Dec. 28 to confirm sentencing dates.
Police officers arrested Lincoln on New Year's Eve 2021 following a five-month-long VPD investigation.
Homicide investigators identified a suspect and spent months gathering evidence before making the arrest.
In an appeal for witnesses the day after Herbert’s death, VPD spokesperson Const. Tania Visintin said possible witnesses “may not have realized the severity of the assault.”
An obituary in the Winnipeg Free Press described Hebert as a gentle soul and a pillar of his community.
He was a volunteer at Britannia Community Centre and was known as a craftsman who did carpentry work and loved sculpting stone and wood.
