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Shortly after the meeting ended, two other people who lived at the home and a four-year-old boy returned home after being at a birthday party.

The kidnap victim saw them on the stairway to the upper level where the living room was, and at the same time, he realized that there were three or four masked men around him.

He was punched in the face, had his glasses broken, his arms tied behind his back and was thrown down the stairs. He heard four pops that he thought were gunshots but didn’t think anybody had been shot because there was no reason for that to be done.

The judge noted that in fact two people — Ba-Cao and Le — had been shot twice in the side of the head at close range.

Photo by Ryan Stelting / for PNG

“It is not known who the shooter was and the gun was never located,” the judge said in his executive summary read out in court. “Consequently, no one is charged with murder. Those believed to be involved, or present at Dieppe, are charged with manslaughter.”

After the shootings, the kidnappers, all of whom were wearing balaclavas, moved the kidnap victim to a car in the back of the house, after which he was taken to a home in Surrey and held for 45 hours before being rescued by police.

On several occasions, he was driven around by his captors while calls seeking a ransom were made.

While the victim was unable to identify those who were at Dieppe, he was able to see the men later as they were unmasked during the stay at the Surrey home.

During the victim’s captivity, a $1-million ransom was initially demanded and later reduced to $500,000.