Frederick Horyn, 73, was a retired school teacher who drove for Edmonton Yellow Cab. At about 3 a.m. on Sunday, November 22, 1981, he picked up a 29-year-old man and drove him to his home. The man was "grossly intoxicated" and for some unknown reason attacked Mr. Horyn, savagely beating and kicking him. Mr. Horyn was hospitalized and lingered for five months, dying on April 12, 1982. Had he survived he would have been afflicted with irreversible brain damage. The killer was arrested the same night as the attack. He had no previous criminal record and was convicted of manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison. The Crown appealed the sentence and asked the Court of Appeal of Alberta to write a guideline judgement which would determine a suitable sentence for manslaughter committed while the killer was drunk. The Court declined to do this, arguing that the number of variables in such cases precluded a consistent approach to sentencing. However, the Court allowed the Crown's appeal and subsituted a sentence of eight years in prison on the grounds that the killer's sentence "must reflect a factor of denunciation that is much greater than reflected" by the original sentence of four years. Friends and relatives described Mr. Horyn as a quiet, friendly man. "I knew him well, in fact he tutored my eldest boy 25 years ago," said Ralph Wiedman, general manager of Yellow Cab.

Frederick Horyn is buried in Evergreeen Memorial Gardens, Edmonton. (Source: YellowPages.ca) Mr. Horyn was survived by his wife Jean, four daughters and a son who visited him regularly during the five months he was in hospital. He regained consciousness and he could talk and understand what we said sometimes, but he never fully rcovered, said Jean Horyn.