Man who stuffed body in duffel bag gets 5 1/2 years in prison

An Ottawa man who admitted to stuffing DeepakBeaudoin-Reichmann into a duffel bag after the 27-year-old died of a drug overdose last fall has been sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison.

DavidLojk, also27, was in a Brockville court Thursdayfor his sentencing hearing after pleading guilty last month tocausing indignity to a human body, drug trafficking and breach of conditions.

Beaudoin-Reichmannwas found dead on October 14, 2015, abouta week after being reported missing by his family in the Niagara Region.

• David Lojk charged in suspicious death of Deepak Beaudoin-Reichmann
• Deepak Beaudoin-ReichmannID'd after body found in Kemptville Creek

In victim impact statements delivered Thursday,Beaudoin-Reichmann'sfamilycondemnedLojkfor the way he treatedBeaudoin-Reichmann'sbody after heoverdosed from a combination of cocaine andoxycodone.

"You treated the lifeless body of a human being as if it was trash,"Beaudoin-Reichmann'sfather JosephBeaudointold court Thursday.

"You violated my son's humanity by trying to deny him a burial."

Beaudoin-Reichmannhad spent months in drug rehabilitation facility inGrimsby, Ont., but came to Ottawa to visit friends after receiving an inheritance, court heard in February 2016, whenLojkpleaded guilty.

According to an agreed statement of facts from February,Beaudoin-Reichmannoverdosed on cocaine andoxycodonewhile partying withLojkin an Ottawa apartment.

Lojk, with the help of two friends, then drove the body toKemptvilleCreek and dumped it there, according to the statement of facts. Surveillance video played in court in Februaryshowed three men movingBeaudoin-Reichmann'sbody in a duffel bag.

'Stupid and morally reprehensible'

"You put more effort into hiding my brother's body than to helping him when he was alive,"Beaudoin-Reichmann'ssister Vanessa Beaudoin said during her victim's impact statement Thursday.

Lojkwas also initially charged withconspiracy to commit an indictable offence but the charge was stayed when he entered his plea.

Doug Baum, Lojk's lawyer,told court Thursday he was seekinga four-to-five-year sentence for his client, calling his actions "stupid and morally reprehensible" but notingthat Lojk was not directly responsible for Beaudoin-Reichmann's death.

Crown Attorney Curt Flanagan accused Lojkof doing nothing for almost anentire day as Beaudoin-Reichmann"was dying beside him, literally."

Flanagansaid Thursday he would be seeking a sentence of six-to-eight years on the charges.

Two other men charged

Two other men, who cannot be named due to a publication ban,have also been charged with causing indignity to a human body andconspiracy to commit an indictable offence in the same case.

Prior to the arrests, Ontario Provincial Police had asked for the public's help to find three men spotted travelling in ahalf-ton pickup truck near where the body was found, around County Road 20 and County Road 18 in North Grenville.

In late October, police searched an apartment on Lisgar Street in Ottawa and seized a white pick-up truck parked outside.