Luka Gordic’s young life was taken in a brutal murder on May 17th, 2015 in Whistler. Only 19-years-old at the time of his death, the young man’s killers were sentenced this week at a court hearing.

His family and friends gathered in the courtroom during the proceedings, and many of them were crying. His mother, Clara Gordic, read a powerful statement. In it, she stated that she wished she could have brought a picture of his deceased body for them to see.

Two of the men were convicted of manslaughter, while the other is charged with second-degree murder; however, two of the individuals were under 17 when the attack took place. As a result, their identities are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

“Since Luka’s death and I cry everyday. I get sick to my stomach when I think of what you four did. His innocent life was taken from him senselessly and viciously, ” she says.

“My family and myself went through hell. The grief I experienced was unbearable and I felt sorry that my other kids saw me in that state but I was unable to cope. I could not help them with their pain of losing their baby brother. I could not get out of bed for about 7 months. I could not go to work, could not sleep, could not eat, or talk to anyone.”

After the hearing, Clara posted a powerful message on Facebook that has been shared over 369 times and had over 1.1 k reactions.

“Luka did not deserve to be swarmed and stabbed to death. It kills me to know what my son Luka went through and I envision everyday what was going through Luka’s mind in his final moments. Luka did not deserve to be murdered and it sickens me. I will never ever be the same. I am a sick woman. I struggle with emotional pain everyday. The emptiness of losing Luka is like a life sentence. It’s not like losing a phone, your wallet or going through a break up. I lost my son,” adds Clara.

You can read her full post below:

Since Luka’s death and I cry everyday. I get sick to my stomach when I think of what you four did. His innocent life was taken from him senselessly and viciously. I remember the early morning hours of May 17,2015 when I received a phone call from someone letting me know that Luka was hurt. My husband I quickly got into the car and drove up to Whistler thinking Luka was hurt. About 10 minutes before reaching Whistler Village we were informed by a police officer over the telephone that Luka had passed away. Mitch and I were hysterical. I remember us screaming and crying. Mitch had to pull over on the side of the highway. I will never forget it. It was devastating news to learn that our son died. I will never go to Whistler again. Since then, my life and my family’s life has never been the same. We managed to drive to the hospital where Luka was, but we were not permitted to see him. I cried in the back seat of the car all the way to Burnaby. The family, all six of us, had tickets to go to Europe that summer but our plans were ruined because of you, bastards. Luka was to be baptised there. Instead we planned his burial. We had to wait 2 weeks before we could see him and that was in the morgue at the cemetery. I wanted to bring a picture here of Luka’s dead body to remind you all of what you all did. It was not permitted. There was about 1500 people that attended Luka’s funeral. The largest the cemetery ever had. Luka had a big Serbian/Italian family and many friends from all nationalities. Luka grew up to be a responsible young man. He cared a lot about his friends and family. He loved his brothers, sister, grandparents, cousins, friends, and his girlfriend. He never acted tough, he was comfortable living his life and new right from wrong. He did not need expensive clothes or massive tattoos. I worked hard to raise my beautiful son, Luka. He is not just a victim but Luka Gordic, my son who was very valuable to me and my family. He was the light of my life and I miss him terribly. His father, two older brothers and one older sister are forever damaged. There are no words to describe the emptiness I feel. I miss everything about Luka. The breakfasts we had together before he went to school, the workouts we went to together, the laughs and hugs and kisses he would give me. He would even go grocery shopping with his mom. I hyperventilate and start to have major anxiety when I see the foods that he liked at grocery stores. He can’t eat them anymore. L…., G… and A…, you eat and you get a choice of what to eat. Instead, I visit the cemetery now and kiss his picture on his monument and bring fresh flowers. I get emotional when I smell the scent of flowers. We had so many in our house when Luka died. You four, you cost me tremendous heartache and not to mention money. When I see you and your family it reminds me of Luka. I hate you very much. I relive the events of what happened to my poor son Luka on May 17,2015 everyday. My family and myself went through hell. The grief I experienced was unbearable and I felt sorry that my other kids saw me in that state but I was unable to cope. I could not help them with their pain of losing their baby brother. I could not get out of bed for about 7 months. I could not go to work, could not sleep, could not eat, or talk to anyone. Luka did not deserve to be swarmed and stabbed to death. It kills me to know what my son Luka went through and I envision everyday what was going through Luka’s mind in his final moments. Luka did not deserve to be murdered and it sickens me. I will never ever be the same. I am a sick woman. I struggle with emotional pain everyday. The emptiness of losing Luka is like a life sentence. It’s not like losing a phone, your wallet or going through a break up. I lost my son.

***I was asked to take the part below out during my Victim impact statement reading today. ***

(You four planned this together, you four travelled up together and you got caught together. You four swarmed and killed Luka together. No apologies accepted for murder. You are not sorry, you guys are sorry for yourselves and trying anything possible to get out of this mess and get on with your lives. How could you do such a thing and then try to deny that and make up pathetic stories. Did you see yourselves on the video the night you four attacked and killed Luka? Did you think this was funny. It’s not you that is six feet under ground, so who cares, right? It’s not your parents grieving so who cares, right? That is what you thought. This is what your parents thought too. You want to be done with this ordeal so you can get on with your lives, right? G…., you did not even know Luka so I brought this picture of him especially for you. I wanted to show you the person you tried to stab then kicked while he was being stabbed three times in the heart. You killed Luka for no reason. Mr. Mohan, A… did not have a criminal history because he never got caught until now. You forgot to mention that he was kicked out of one high school and went to another. He had two phones and did not respect anything the teachers would ask of him. He would leave at the spur of the moment to the aid of a friend at the Schou alternative school in Burnaby. His father told an interviewer that he had told G… not to bring troubles home. Arvin Golic orchestrated an attack on Luka and you followed through with it. A…, you knew of Luka. Like G…, you hung out with Arvin all the time. You both knew he had a criminal history and you still chose to be with him. This was long before the incident with Luka. You were just so jealous of Luka. You taught young children to play soccer at Wesburne in Burnaby and you were hanging out with a violent, criminal, Arvin Golic and that guy there L. You were fully aware of the plan to swarm and attack Luka. All four of you travelled up together, remember that. You had transfer stains on your boot. You kicked Luka while he was being stabbed three times in the heart just because you were so jealous of him. How dare you lie about what you did. It makes me so angry. It would have been much easier if you had just told the truth from the beginning. Instead, you chose to follow through with Arvin Golics orders. What did he promise you? Never did you think you Arvin would promise you a ticket to jail for doing his dirty work. He doesn’t care about you. As for you L….. You spelled your name wrong twice. Trying to dodge the system once again. Any condition you received since your criminal history, you broke. Your mother even came on the stand, took the bible in her hand and lied for you. That is so embarrassing and so wrong. The last resort was to place an ankle monitor on you. At about the same time when we learned of Lukas death, you laughed in the holding cell in Whistler. You laughed and asked if Luka was dead. You stabbed my son in the heart three times and you laughed. You and Arvin were not supposed to be together. You broke that rule too. Both of your parents drove you up there knowing you two were not to be together. Yet you were always together. Look what happened. You killed my son Luka. I would like to mention that at the end of Arvin’s trial he had a hair bun on the top of his head like you. What a coincidence. You are a menus to society. Why would you even go to Whistler. That weekend is for students that graduate or very soon to graduate. You didn’t even complete grade nine just like Arvin.)

Once again, since Luka’s death and I cry everyday. I made numerous visits to the hospital, phycologists and physiatrists because I was not coping well. The anxiety, panic attacks and depression hurt me so much. It was unbearable. Can you imagine going into your son’s bedroom with his clothes etc. there and trying to comprehend that he is never coming home. I was put on three medications to try to at least get me back on my feet. I believe I will be on medication for the rest of my life. You four created a mess all over. You hurt so many people with your nonsense. You created life long damage for me, my husband, my kids, family, Luka’s friends and the whole community. Shame on you. I hope you never see daylight. You took an innocent person’s life away for absolutely no reason. I will never forget what you did to Luka.