THE Parole Board of Canada has once again denied full parole for a West Vancouver man who stabbed his childhood friend to death outside the Hollyburn Country Club five years ago, after a two-member tribunal questioned both his remorse and his recollection of the crime.
Sasan Ansari, 33, was convicted of manslaughter in November 2008 for the killing of Josh Goos, who was stabbed 33 times outside the upscale club.
He was sentenced to five years in jail, but served only two years before being let out on day parole in January of this year.
Since September of this year, Ansari has been attending law school at the University of British Columbia and has been working for a law firm.
Recently, Ansari applied to the parole board for a relaxation in his conditions to either full parole or for new conditions that would allow him to spend five days a week in the community and only two at a halfway house.
The board refused, stating in a written decision that although Ansari had been a model prisoner and parolee, corrections staff still have concerns "because of lingering questions about your level of remorse and acceptance of responsibility."
In particular, the board went into detailed questions about Ansari's version of the killing.
In his trial, Ansari testified that he stabbed Goos while in a "dissociative state" and that he'd felt Goos was threatening to harm him over a business deal gone wrong.
In their decision, parole board members questioned why Ansari - who had never considered Goos a threat before - would suddenly come to see him in a much more "sinister" and threatening light while they talked in a vehicle outside the club.
"You could not explain fully why you did not get out of the car at your first opportunity," the board wrote in its decision.
The board also questioned Ansari's statements that he had no memory of the actual stabbing.
"The board asked you if you had ever experienced these blackouts prior to or since (the crime) and you said no except for not remembering your childhood," the board wrote.
"You could not explain why, after gaining control of the knife, you did not stop the attack. You could not explain why you pursued the victim when he tried to escape."
"You said you had some recollection of thinking he needed help. . . . You could not explain why this realization of your victims' needs did not result in your calling 9-1-1."
In reaching its decision, the board cited Ansari's "selective memory" as bringing "the credibility of your recollections into question."
The board added Ansari's belief that his current parole conditions are "inconvenient" for his work and law studies is "somewhat disconcerting" given the nature of his crime.
The board ruled Ansari will live for four days at the halfway house each week while being allowed to spend three days in the wider community.
Other conditions of his day parole remain in effect, including getting counselling, being banned from taking drugs and keeping parole officers informed of any financial dealings. Ansari must also continue to stay away from two people whom corrections officers consider bad influences.
The names of those people have not been made public by the board, which identifies them only by the initials S.A. and S.T.
Ansari's brother, Soroush Ansari - who was a character witness at Sasan Ansari's trial - was also released from prison on $250,000 bail in January after two years behind bars.
Soroush Ansari, an alleged associate of the UN gang, is charged with counselling another alleged gang member, Barzan Tilli-Choli, to shoot at someone with an intent to endanger that person's life on Jan. 24, 2009. The drive-by shooting is thought to be part of a gang turf war between the UN and the rival Red Scorpions.
