A TWISTED man stabbed his ex-girlfriend 47 times and then filmed her as she slowly bled to death.
Jan Peopl was given a life sentence with a minimum of 15 years without parole for the callous murder of 34-year-old Nicole Porciello.
A Vancouver court heard how Peopl knifed the mum-of-one, also known as Nicole Hasselmann, in the passenger seat of his car after finding out she had been dating another man days after breaking up with him.
He then recorded her as she slowly bled out.
The judge described the real-estate agent’s actions as “callous, cruel and self-absorbed” and that the recording – which was played in court – showed he had “an astonishing lack of remorse” for the woman he claimed to love.
Peopl pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and begged the judge to drop his non-parole period from 15 to 10 years.
He told the court that he had been “waiting for this moment for a long time to tell you how sorry I am”.
His lawyers shared letters he sent to a chaplain and a prison worker suggesting the murderer was making efforts to rehabilitate.
‘You destroyed my family’
The judge also spoke about a heartbreaking handwritten letter written by Nicole’s son, expressing his grief, and admitted that she had found it difficult to read.
Nicole’s family said Peopl failed to show any genuine emotion, with her dad Joe telling him: “You destroyed my family. Our hearts are broken. You took my baby and I will never be whole again.”
Her cousin, Gina Iuliano, called Peopl a “predator” who preyed on her beautiful family member.
“He took goodness from this world. He took away love from this world,” she said.
Nicole’s best friend Ashley Engelson her companion “would still be here” if she had never met Peopl.
Her sister Carmine described the teaching assistant as some who “always saw the best in everything, and always tried to make the best of every situation”.
When Vancouver emergency services rushed to the scene that November 16 evening in 2018, they saw Peopl trapped in his vehicle and scrambled to cut him out with high-grade machinery.
But it wasn’t till police began examining the scene to determine how the crash happened that they saw Nicole’s unconscious body lying in a nearby ditch.
Paramedics rushed over to help her and noticed she was still breathing despite having been flung 30ft away.
They also saw her body was riddled with stab wounds.
She was rushed to hospital where she later died from her injuries.
When police launched a probe into the incident, what they uncovered was truly terrifying.
Nicole and Peopl had been in a rocky relationship – constantly breaking up and getting back together over a period of seven years.
Nicole was a student support worker at Templeton Secondary School in Vancouver and a loving mum to her 10-year-old son.
She was adored by family, friends, and by the students she mentored, which made her death at Peopl’s hands even more difficult to comprehend.
Peopl was a real-estate agent and struggling drug addict who had been physically abusive and controlling towards her.
He disapproved of her female friends and hated when she spoke to other men.
So when Nicole left him nine days before the crash and briefly began seeing someone else, Peopl’s jealousy kicked into overdrive.
On the evening of November 16, he picked Nicole up in a rental vehicle while her son was at hockey practice and got into a dispute.
Peopl then pulled out two kitchen knives and began tearing into the 34-year-old’s body repeatedly as she sat in the passenger seat.
Instead of calling for help, Peopl took off his bloody jacket, got out his mobile phone and started recording a video of the two of them while Nicole bled out.
The footage shows the young mother covered in blood and gasping for air.
In a desperate attempt to save her life, she could be heard telling Peopl that she loved him.
Peopl showed no remorse, telling her she was stabbed because he could not handle her moving on with another man.
We can’t have precedent like this, showing that a vicious crime has a sentence so low that it makes it easy for anyone to do this crime.Gina IulianoNicole’s Cousin
He then left Nicole to bleed out for two hours while he sent emails, including his work resignation, paid some bills and even did some online shopping for a new TV and a dishwasher.
He then got back into the rental car and found Nicole still alive.
It is believed he intended to stage a car crash to make it look like Nicole had died as a result of the collision.
When Peopl slammed his foot on the accelerator and smashed into a street light at high speed, Nicole, who was not wearing a seatbelt, went flying out.
By November 29, Peopl was arrested and later charged with second-degree murder.
Nicole’s family said Peopl’s sentence was not severe enough.
They told a group of reporters outside the court house that “justice doesn’t exist in this country”.
Nicole sister Carmine said Peopl deserved “the maximum” of 25 years without parole.
Her cousin added: “If we want to remember Nicole, we want to remember her with the love and brightness that she brought into every room that she walked into.
“We have somebody who is not even 40 years old who, in the worst case scenario, could be out when he’s 50 or 55,” she said. “That is unacceptable.”
“We can’t have people like this walking our streets.
“We can’t have precedent like this, showing that a vicious crime has a sentence so low that it makes it easy for anyone to do this crime.”
In the week leading up to the sentencing, Nicole’s friends and family launched a social media campaign highlighting how they had been affected by her death.
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