Jennifer Pan sentenced to life without parole for 25 years

A Toronto-area woman who ordered a hit on her parents has been sentenced to life in prison with no parole for 25 years for first-degree murder, and life for attempted murder.

Jennifer Pan, 28, waslast month found guiltyof both first-degree murder and attempted murder for her role inthe 2010 incident, which left her 53-year-old mother,BiehHa Pan, dead and her father with a critical head wound.

Her three co-accused Lenford Crawford, David Mylvaganam and her on-again, off-again boyfriend Daniel Wong were also found guilty of the same charges.

• Jennifer Pan guilty of murder inphoneyhome invasion

Hann Pan wasn't in the Newmarket, Ont., court on Friday, but said in a written statement that though he survived the attempt on his life, he feels as if he died that day.

"When I lost my wife, I lost my daughter at the same time," he said in his statement.

"I hope my daughter Jennifer thinks about what happened to her family and can become a good, honest person someday."

Prosecutors said during trial that neither Wong nor Crawford were at the Pan home that night, but acted as middle-men for her and the men who carried out the killing.

It's unclear who shot Pan's mother and father, though all three intruders were allegedly armed with guns. Mylvaganam's lawyer told the court his client wasn't inside the house, nor did he shoot anyone.

When I lost my wife, I lost my daughter at the same time,-HannPan, instatement

The Crown said Pan started plotting her parents' murder after they forced her to choose between them and Wong, her high-school sweetheart turned drug dealer.

The ultimatum came after the Pans discovered much of what their daughter had told them over the past decade was a lie. She had never gone to university, much less graduated, and was living with Wong rather than with a friend, as she'd told them, court heard.

Killing cost $10,000, Crown says

Pan moved back home and appeared to submit to her parents' wishes, all while planning the attack through text messages and calls on her "secret murder phone," prosecutors said. That phone's SIM card was never recovered, but the data stored on the device was presented as evidence during trial.

The killing cost her $10,000, to be paid out from her inheritance, the Crown said.

The attack initially appeared as a home invasion. Pan told police three men broke in, tied her up and ransacked the house before shooting her parents.

York Regional Police Det. William Courtice, said investigators began to suspect her after noticing discrepancies in her accounts of what happened. Their suspicions were cemented after it became clear her father would survive, he said.

"Mr. Pan was interviewed almost a week after the murder and his version of what transpired inside the Pan residence varied dramatically from the versions told by his daughter," he said.

Then, he said, "statements were obtained from friends of Ms. Pan, some of which revealed she had previously hired persons to kill her parents."

Pan admitted on the stand she had previously tried to have her father murdered, but said she abandoned that plan after the man she hired took off with her money.

Then, distraught at finding her life in shambles, Pan arranged for someone to kill her, she testified. But she said she called off that plan when her situation began to improve.

She told the court the attack was a violent home invasion committed by men she couldn't recognize.