The B.C. Supreme Court building seen with plywood on it in New Westminster, B.C., on Wednesday, April 1, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ashley Joannou

By The Canadian Press

Murder, attempted murder conviction both deserve life in B.C. contract killing: Crown

Apr 1, 2026 | 12:47 PM

NEW WESTMINSTER — A Crown attorney says a man convicted of an “execution-style murder” and an attempted murder in Surrey, B.C., more than eight years ago should be sentenced to life for each charge.

Brandon Teixeira was convicted for the October 2017 shooting death of 28-year-old Nicholas Khabra and for wounding a woman who drove the victim to meet Teixeira.

Crown counsel Dianne Wiedemann told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Jennifer Duncan in New Westminster, B.C., on Wednesday that Teixeira was motivated by a $160,000 contract on Khabra’s life that he planned to split with a second man.

She said he was also driven by vengeance because he believed Khabra was involved in planning a drive-by shooting at Teixeira days earlier.

“Contract killings like this one strike at the heart of the sense of security that allows a community to function effectively,” Wiedemann told the court.

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She said Khabra had four gunshot wounds and 31 stab wounds, “leaving a bloody and gruesome scene” when he died.

Wiedemann said the first-degree murder conviction comes with a mandatory life sentence of 25 years before parole eligibility and the attempted murder conviction should bring a concurrent life sentence.

She told the court that the woman who was shot twice in the leg was vulnerable, unarmed and unsuspecting, and that her attempted murder “arose out of the commission of a planned and deliberate targeted contract killing.”

“This plan of meeting Mr. Khabra in the early morning hours, in a secluded area far from his home, by necessity, required the murder of a second person unrelated to the contract,” she said.

The woman, whose identify is protected under a publication ban, spoke in court about the impact the shooting has had on her life.

“Some days I feel strong and some days I feel completely broken,” she said, adding that Khabra “didn’t deserve what happened. None of us did.”

Teixeira’s lawyer, Reza Mansoori-Dara, said just because his client was convicted of first-degree murder doesn’t mean the jury necessarily believed it was a contract killing.

He also said that even if the contract killing had been proven, it was not relevant to the attempted-murder conviction.

Mansoori-Dara said his client does not have a long history of violence and that shooting the woman on her lower body suggested her vital organs were not the intended target.

After the murder, Teixeira escaped to California, where he was living under an assumed name until his arrest in 2019.

He tried unsuccessfully to have the case thrown out on the basis that delays to his trial had infringed on his Charter rights.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026

Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press