Skip to content

Surrey Pretrial inmate gets two years for assault on guard

Gopal Figueredo, 27, slammed cell door, chopping guard’s finger
21256043_web1_200416-SUL-PretrialFingerSlam-court_1
Surrey Pretrial Service Centre in Newton. (Photo: Tom Zytaruk)

A Surrey Pretrial inmate who slammed a cell door on a corrections officer, severing his ring finger, has been sentenced to two more years in jail after pleading guilty to aggravated assault.

Justice Peter Edelmann presided over the case in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.

Gopal Figueredo was a prisoner awaiting trial on another matter when on Jan. 2, 2018 he attacked Cody Fenske, who came to deliver a meal to his cell. Figueredo hit the officer multiple times in his face and on his head, dropping the guard to the ground. As Fenske was getting up Figueredo backed out of his cell and slammed the door, locking the officer inside, and then did a celebratory dance.

Two of Fenske’s fingers were caught in the door. His middle finger was split, and he lost half-an-inch off of his ring finger.

Figueredo, 27, was sentenced on Aug. 18, 2019 by Justice Arne Silverman to 18 years in prison for kidnapping, extortion, manslaughter and aggravated assault.

Edelmann added two more years, consecutively, to that sentence for the finger-severing assault.

“While I accept that he is remorseful and did not intentionally sever the officer’s fingers,” Edelmann noted in his reasons for sentencing, “Mr. Figueredo remains responsible for the consequence of an unprovoked and violent assault, a fact that is underlined by the guilty plea to aggravated assault before me.”

READ ALSO: Six men found guilty of manslaughter, kidnapping in Vancouver and Surrey

READ ALSO: Six men sentenced for ‘brutal’ shootings in Vancouver, kidnapping in Surrey



tom.zytaruk@surreynowleader.com

Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram and follow Tom on Twitter



About the Author: Tom Zytaruk

I write unvarnished opinion columns and unbiased news reports for the Surrey Now-Leader.
Read more