In what appears to be a motiveless crime, a 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to using fake ID on two occasions at Chances Casino in North Kamloops.
Jacob Cavanagh admitted in provincial court on Friday to using fake ID on one occasion and the driver’s licence of a friend to gain admission to the casino in the other. The charge under the Criminal Code is dealing with an identity document without excuse.
Crown prosecutor Neil Flanagan told provincial court judge Roy Dickey that on both occasions, Cavanagh knew the doorman personally, The doorman seized the ID and turned him away.
“It’s somewhat puzzling in the sense that I’m not sure what motivated Mr. Cavanagh to use the ID,” Dickey said. “There seems to be no benefit.”
Dickey levied a $700 fine suggested in a joint submission by the Crown and defence lawyer Brad Smith.
Two men testified Monday in B.C. Supreme Court that a hockey coach and auxiliary Mountie in Clearwater sexually touched them on separate occasions four decades ago — memories they cannot erase.
Both witnesses, now 55 years, testified independently and through a closed-circuit television so they did not have to face the man on trial. Alan Davidson is charged with six counts of indecent assault, incidents alleged to have occurred in the late 1970s.
Crown prosecutor Alex Janse told the court the sexual touching occured in a number of area towns due to the travel in the sports, hockey and baseball, where Davidson coached when he lived in Clearwater in the late 70s and early 80s.
Davidson was arrested in Alberta in 2014 after a complainant came forward. The investigation found other victims, including in Saskatchewan where Davidson later served as a Mountie. He has not yet gone on trial on those charges.
The former Mountie and sheriff in Alberta confessed to a number of sexual assaults on his arrest, Janse said.
Alan Davidson
“I thought I was the only one,” said the first witness, who recounted Davidson staying with his family as he did construction on the family home.
Davidson was 21 years old at the time.
His family owned a golf course in neighbouring Blackpool.
The identities of all the complainants are protected by a court order.
The first witness said Davidson slept in his bed when he stayed at the family home for a short period. His older brother was in his own bed on the other side of the room.
He recounted Davidson sliding over to him, under the covers, and performing a number of sexual acts on the 14-year-old boy.
“I basically froze,” said the man, who was accompanied in the separate room by a victim services support worker.
“I thought I would wake someone up — my brother or my parents. I was scared. I didn’t understand what was happening.”
Following that, he said Davidson was overly friendly to him, picking him up at school and buying him meals.
The second witness recounted, who recalled being 14 or 15 at the time, said he accepted an invitation to stay at a cabin overnight at the golf course.
That night Davidson showed him pornographic magazines, the first time the boy had ever seen pornography.
Davidson then performed sexual acts on him.
“He asked if he could touch me. . . . I thought it would be OK. So that’s what he did.”
The second witness said Davidson, an assistant hockey coach on his team, touched him on a second occasion after inviting him to Kamloops for an overnight visit to the city.
“I felt it was very wrong,” said the witness. “Mr. Davidson took advantage of me when I was young and innocent.”
Defence lawyer John Gustafson questioned whether the incidents ever took place. He asked the first witness whether Davidson instead offered to give him a neck massage after he complained of a migraine headache.
“I’m going to suggest Mr. Davidson had no sexual contact with you at all, except this one massage. Do you agree with that?” he asked.
“No,” came the first witness’s reply.
Both men said they have been psychologically scarred.
“It’s bothered me my whole life,” said the second witness. “There hasn’t been a day go by when I haven’t had Mr. Davidson in my mind, what happened. I take medication at night so I can sleep and I’m not thinking about this stuff all the time.”
Both told their stories to police only when the investigation started prior to Davidson’s arrest in 2014.
The trial in front of B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan is set for as long as three weeks.
A Lytton man charged with murder in connection to the 2016 death of his uncle has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge.
Colton Smith entered a guilty plea in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops on Monday to one count of manslaughter.
The 23-year-old was charged with second-degree murder following the stabbing death of his uncle, J.J. Smith, outside a house party in Lytton on Jan. 22, 2016.
He had been slated to stand trial before a judge and jury.
Smith is expected to return to court for sentencing submissions to begin on Nov. 6.
A Shuswap man has been handed a four-year prison sentence for his part in a deadly 2016 shootout — an incident the judge called a “throwback to the Wild West.”
Richard Allen Williams had been charged with attempted murder, but that charge was dropped by the Crown in exchange for a guilty plea to one count of reckless discharge of a firearm.
The 61-year-old was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops on Tuesday.
Court heard Williams and a friend, Darin Krawat, were out looking for another man, Clayton Hill, on Feb. 7, 2016. According to Crown prosecutor Chris Balison, the two entered Hill’s house through an unlocked front door at about 6:30 p.m. that day, masked and armed with baseball bats, but he was not home.
Hill’s wife phoned her husband and warned him not to come home. Balison said Hill then picked up a friend and took it upon himself to locate Williams and Krawat.
The two parties crossed paths in their vehicles on a rural road in Celista. Both stopped and a confrontation ensued.
Multiple gunshots were fired. Court heard Krawat was fatally wounded and Williams shot Hill in the neck.
Hill made a full recovery, court heard, and no charges were ever laid in relation to Krawat’s death.
Balison said the two sides were in disagreement because of a “business arrangement” between Williams and Hill “some years prior.”
Williams, who has no prior criminal record, was arrested four days after the shootout and has been in custody since. With credit for time served, he will have nearly 20 months left to spend behind bars. Defence lawyer Jeremy Jensen said Williams, who was born in Nova Scotia, moved to B.C. in 2002.
“I have a lot of remorse for this situation I find myself in,” Williams said in court. “I feel very ashamed for putting my family through this.”
In addition to the jail time, Williams was also ordered to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database and was given a 10-year firearms prohibition.
“The circumstances throw back to the Wild West, where Mr. Williams and his associate engaged in a shootout with Mr. Hill and his compatriot,” B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley said.
“It is apparent that whatever dispute was at issue was treated seriously and with dire consequences.”
A witness testifying against his former Clearwater hockey coach testified Wednesday he coached his own children later in life so they would not fall victim themselves.
The man in his early 50s testified in the B.C. Supreme Court trial of Alan Davidson, who is charged with seven counts of indecent assault dating from the late 1970s and early ‘80s. The incidents are alleged to have occurred in a number of neighbouring communities during sports and other trips.
Like other victims who testified — whose identities are protected by a court-ordered publication ban — the witness said he did not tell anyone about what happened on a camping trip at Adams Lake until RCMP knocked on his door three years ago.
“Never, ever,” he told Crown prosecutor Alex Janse.
“I just spilled my guts to them. It kind of felt like a weight off my shoulders, I guess.”
The witness Wednesday was the fifth of seven complainants scheduled to testify.
About half were under the age — 14 years at the time — of consent when the incidents occurred.
He said Davidson was one of his hockey and baseball coaches and was well known in the community. He also served as an auxiliary Mountie. Later Davidson would become a full fledged member, serving in Saskatchewan. He is also charged with sexual offences from his time in Saskatchewan.
The witness, who was about 16 years at the time, said Davidson came along to a family camping trip, where friends were welcome. The pair drank and ended up in Davidson’s camper.
He said Davidson sexually touched him and the two engaged in sex.
“I was 16 years old and I was raped,” he told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan, stopping to compose himself and dabbing at tears throughout his testimony.
Later in cross examination with defence lawyer John Gustafson, the witness agreed he was drunk and did not resist the sexual invitation. Davidson was in his early 20s at the time.
Consent is expected to be a legal issue in the trial with some of the alleged victims, as is Davidson’s status as an authority figure — a coach and auxiliary Mountie.
The witness said he felt ashamed after the episode. He also determined later in life he wouldn’t allow his children to be exposed to someone who would take advantage of them.
“In a positive way, it affected my parenting. I coached hockey and ball so I could protect my kids and their friends,” he said through tears.
A hearing is scheduled next week to determine whether a sworn statement Davidson gave to police in Alberta after he was arrested in 2014 will be admissible in the trial.
Kamloops RCMP released this image taken from security footage downtown. The person in the frame is the suspect in the Sept. 7 mugging of an elderly female Australian tourist near Lansdowne Street and Third Avenue. A few hours after releasing images on the morning of Wednesday, Sept. 13, police announced a 37-year-old man had been arrested in connection to the mugging, in which the tourist was uninjured, but had her purse stolen. It was recovered nearby, but her wallet was missing.
Kamloops Mounties have arrested a suspect in connection to the Sept. 7 mugging of an Australian tourist in the downtown core.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said the arrest took place on Wednesday afternoon, six days after the robbery and only hours after police released photos of the suspect, taken from security footage captured downtown moments after the mugging.
Shelkie said police received numerous tips after the photos were sent to media.
A 37-year-old man from Kamloops is in custody and is to appear before a judge on Thursday. Shelkie said the man is known to police.
The mugging occurred at 7:25 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, when the tourist walking near Lansdowne Street and Third Avenue. A man ran by and yanked the purse from her arm. A bystander gave chase, but the suspect got away.
The purse and its contents were found a short distance away, with the wallet missing.
While the tourist was not injured, she was shaken up, according to police.
The suspect was described as being white and in his mid-20s. He was said to have stood between 5-foot-9 and 5-foot-11, with a slim build. He was wearing jean shorts, a black T-shirt and a beige hat that sat backwards on his head.
Jurors in Kelowna were into their second full day of deliberations Thursday following the second murder trial of Peter Beckett, the former New Zealand politician accused of killing his wife on a B.C. vacation more than seven years ago.
Peter Beckett is charged with murder in connection to the death of his wife, Laura Letts, on Aug. 18, 2010. She drowned in Upper Arrow Lake, south of Revelstoke.
Following a months-long trial in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops last year, Beckett’s jury was unable to reach a unanimous decision after more than a week of deliberations.
His second trial began late last month.
Jurors in Kelowna began deliberations at about 4:15 p.m. on Tuesday.
Mounties have arrested a suspect in connection to the Sept. 7 mugging of an Australian tourist in the downtown core.
Cpl. Jodi Shelkie said the arrest took place on Wednesday afternoon, six days after the robbery and only hours after police released photos of the suspect, taken from security footage captured downtown moments after the mugging.
Shelkie said numerous tips were sent in to police after the photos were sent to media.
Charles Andrew Douglass, a 37-year-old Kamloops man, is charged with robbery and remains in custody pending a Sept. 21 bail hearing.
The mugging occurred at 7:25 p.m. on Thursday, Sept. 7, when the tourist was walking near Lansdowne Street and Third Avenue.
A man ran by and yanked the purse from her arm. A bystander gave chase, but the suspect got away.
The purse and its contents were found a short distance away, with the wallet missing.
While the tourist was not injured, she was shaken up, according to police.
A Kamloops man who thought he was helping people by setting up his own informal marijuana dispensary has been fined $1,000 after being found guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Franco Tulliani was sentenced on Friday in Kamloops provincial court.
The 53-year-old was busted by police with 150 grams of marijuana during a traffic stop on April 28, 2016. In addition to the weed, which was separated in baggies and jars, officers also found a scale and a scoresheet.
Tulliani told court he thought he was helping people and wasn’t looking to get rich.
Kamloops provincial court Judge Roy Dickey said he believed Tulliani was sincere, but that did not make him right.
“He felt that he was assisting others through the sale of marijuana,” the judge said. “He also felt that the selling of the marijuana would ensure the purchasers were not receiving marijuana laced with fentanyl.
“Mr. Tulliani felt, to a large extent, that he was doing a service for others that he felt provided some benefit. I don’t find Mr. Tulliani was selling marijuana for the purpose of making any substantial profit. That was not his motivation.”
Tulliani, who Dickey described as “eccentric,” said he started using marijuana to deal with pain from injuries he suffered in a 2007 car crash, after which he was prescribed opiate painkillers.
“It seems to work and it doesn’t leave me fogged up like the pills,” he said. “Usually when I take a painkiller, I just feel nasty. Marijuana seems to work really good for me.”
Tulliani told court he no longer sells marijuana.
In addition to the fine, which Tulliani was given six months to pay, Dickey also placed him on a mandatory 10-year firearms prohibition.
It took two trials, but Peter Beckett has been found guilty of first-degree murder in the death of his wife, who drowned in a lake in B.C.’s Interior more than seven years ago.
Jurors in Kelowna returned with a guilty verdict just before 5 p.m. on Saturday, more than four full days after their deliberations began.
Beckett, a 62-year-old former city councillor and business owner from New Zealand, will receive an automatic sentence of life without the possibility of parole for at least 25 years. He stood trial in Kamloops last year but it was declared a mistrial after jurors were unable to return with a unanimous verdict after more than a week of deliberations.
Beckett’s wife, Laura Letts, drowned in Upper Arrow Lake near Revelstoke on Aug. 18, 2010.
Beckett moved from his home in New Zealand to Letts’ hometown of Westlock, Alta., 10 years earlier. The couple met in 1995 while Letts, a schoolteacher, was on vacation in New Zealand.
In August 2010, court heard, Beckett and Letts were on vacation at Shelter Bay. On the evening of Letts’ death, she and Beckett were riding in their zodiac on Upper Arrow Lake.
Peter Beckett and deceased wife Laura Letts.
Letts, who was not a strong swimmer, drowned in the lake. No one witnessed the incident.
Through both trials, prosecutors contended Beckett killed Letts out of greed, hoping to cash in on life insurance payouts and her teachers’ pension.
Beckett has steadfastly maintained his innocence throughout, claiming Letts simply fell off the boat and drowned before he could save her. During his trial in Kamloops, jurors were shown a video in which Beckett, an exceptionally large man, told police he was too buoyant to rescue his wife.
Beckett took the stand in his own defence during his Kamloops trial, becoming involved in heated verbal confrontations with Crown prosecutor Joel Gold. In Kelowna, Beckett did not testify.
Beckett has been in custody since his arrest in August 2011.
Though he had counsel for both trials, Beckett was self-represented for much of his pre-trial court process. He was a prolific filer of applications during pre-trial hearings, often submitting thick stacks of hand-written pages detailing allegations of collusion on the part of the judge, the Crown and police.
In one application, Beckett compared B.C. Supreme Court Justice Iain Meiklem to an Australian sponge cake. In many others, he claimed lineage back to Thomas Becket, Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th Century, as proof of his innocence.
At one point, Beckett’s court process was delayed after he smuggled a hard drive full of disclosure out of Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre. It has never been discovered and Beckett has remained mum when asked by KTW about its whereabouts.
Before his trial in Kamloops, when Beckett was still self-represented, a justice official close to the case described him as “the ultimate test of the system.”
Beckett’s Kamloops trial was also marked with bizarre happenings. At one point, he performed a Maori war dance in the courtroom. On another day, his pants fell down when he stood up as the jury left the room. He also offered an endorsement of Donald Trump, who was then seeking the Republican nomination for the U.S. presidency.
Kamloops Mounties have arrested the suspected driver of a car that crashed into a Brocklehurst apartment building early Sunday morning.
Sgt. Brandon Buliziuk said the suspect was arrested without incident later Sunday and is in custody, pending a court appearance on Monday.
Police are recommending the the 26-year old-Kamloops man be charged with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, failing to remain at the scene of an accident and breaching a conditional sentence order under the Criminal Code of Canada. Police are also recommending charges under the BC Motor Vehicle Act.
Police say public information helped in the investigation.
CMP Staff Sgt. Edward Preto said a BMW sedan was travelling westbound on Tranquille Road at 5:35 a.m. Sunday when it lost control in the 1600-block, near Holt Street. The car left the road and struck a three-storey apartment building on the north side of Tranquille, with the driver running from the scene.
The impact caused extensive damage to the ground-floor apartment unit, Preto said, noting two kids in a bedroom of the unit suffered minor injuries from flying debris. They were taken to Royal Inland Hospital for precautionary examinations.
Preto said a structural engineer has been called in to assess the structural integrity of the building.
Neighbours gathered outside the scene on Sunday morning to watch police continue their investigation, with one neighbour saying the driver ran across Tranquille Road and through backyards, fleeing southward. Another neighbour said this was the third time in recent memory that a vehicle had lost control in the area and struck a building.
It probably wasn’t what RCMP had in mind when they locked up a bait bike in an area between Riverside and Pioneer parks.
Brandon Hopson pleaded guilty Monday to a single count of theft under $5,000 for an incident that occurred on June 23.
Crown prosecutor Don Mann said Mounties set up a bait bike — a bicycle equipped with a GPS locator locked up in a place to tempt a would-be thief.
On June 23, police received a notification the unit was moving.
Police first stopped Hopson on Overlanders Bridge, but noted he was not riding the bait bike.
They again traced the GPS unit to Hopson and stopped him again in North Kamloops.
They discovered a bicycle seat and post wrapped up in a shirt he was carrying.
Mann said Hopson admitted stealing the seat from the locked bicycle, telling police, “’I don’t know why I stole the seat — it was stupid.’”
Defence lawyer Jay Michi said Hopson has a serious drinking problem, noting the incident occurred when he relapsed. He is now attending weekly Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.
Provincial court judge Chris Cleaveley said he was giving Hopson a break by granting him an absolute discharge.
Hopson must pay a $300 victim-crime surcharge.
“The message is when you continue with your rehabilitation and your work, keep your hands off other people’s property,” Cleaveley said.
A “mild-mannered” Lillooet man who became addicted to heroin after being prescribed opioid painkillers following a workplace back injury will spend at least the next decade in jail before becoming eligible for parole.
Jeffery Harris, 38, was handed a life sentence on Tuesday after a jury found him guilty earlier this year of second-degree murder.
Gary Mandseth was stabbed and beaten to death inside his Lillooet home on Feb. 10, 2015.
Lillooet is a Fraser Canyon town of about 2,300, a two-hour drive from Kamloops.
At trial, court heard Mandseth sold heroin to Harris on a regular basis and that the two also had a business relationship.
By all accounts heard during Harris’ trial, Mandseth’s death was exceptionally violent. A BC Ambulance paramedic broke down in tears while describing the scene he encountered.
“This murder has had an impact on the community,” Crown prosecutor Chris Balison said in court on Tuesday. “It was seen during trial, not only the struggle of the witnesses coming forward, but also their struggle while giving evidence.”
Defence lawyer Donna Turko stressed Mandseth’s work selling drugs placed him in dangerous situations.
“He was a drug dealer,” she said. “He’s not an innocent victim, not to detract from the fact that there was a loss of life.”
Turko said Harris suffered a back injury about five years ago, after which he was prescribed opioid painkillers. Over time, court heard, he developed an addiction that led to heroin use.
“Doctors prescribe them so readily,” she said. “It’s a classic scenario that started Mr. Harris’ downfall.”
Turko described Harris as “mild-mannered” and “the opposite” of someone one would expect to launch into a violent attack.
For his part, Harris apologized in court — to Mandseth’s family and to his own relatives, as well as to the community of Lillooet.
“In the time since, I’ve had time to be freed from the strong hold of my opioid addiction,” he said.
Harris had no prior criminal record. It took a jury just four hours of deliberations to find him guilty following trial in April.
Sentencing for Harris had been scheduled to have taken place on Aug. 9, but extremely smoky conditions in Kamloops prevented one of his lawyers from attending the hearing.
In addition to the life sentence and 10 years of parole ineligibility, Harris was also ordered to submit a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database and was banned from owning firearms for life.
A B.C. Supreme Court justice must decide whether a videotaped confession by an accused after eight hours in a room with police interrogators will be allowed as evidence in the trial of a former Mountie charged with molesting teenage boys in Clearwater four decades ago.
Crown and defence lawyers are scheduled to complete arguments Tuesday about whether the videotaped confession should be used in the trial against Alan Davidson, who is charged with seven counts of sexual touching.
Seven teenage complainants have testified against Davidson, who was a hockey and baseball coach in Clearwater, as well as an auxiliary RCMP member, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
About half were under the age — 14 years at the time — of consent when the incidents are alleged to have occurred.
Davidson would later become a full-fledged member of the RCMP, serving in Saskatchewan. He is also charged with sexual offences from his time in the Prairie province.
More than eight hours of videotape were played in court last week as Sgt. Darren Carr cajoled Davidson into unburdening himself to police after his arrest in 2014. A lawyer had already told Davidson to not say anything.
Carr testified police who arrested Davidson used a number of scenarios in an attempt to find out what occurred during the sports and camping outings.
Those included discussion of former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy’s stories of abuse at the hands of major-junior hockey coach Graham James. Carr also conversed with Davidson over the eight hours using the “conscience-based theme,” which involved telling the accused police had an overwhelming amount of evidence and then encouraging the interviewee to unburden himself to clear his conscience.
Defence lawyer John Gustafson noted the number of times during the interview when Davidson told Carr that his lawyer instructed him not to speak, as well as when he was not responsive and expressed tiredness.
But Carr said Davidson, a former police officer and a sheriff at the time of arrest, was aware.
“I had no concerns with Mr. Davidson’s operating mind,” Carr said. “This is someone who is sophisticated — at that time, he was a serving peace officer.”
Brian Watson was killed in an April 3, 2016, hit-and-run crash in Magna Bay
A Shuswap man charged with murder in relation to a hit-and-run crash last year that killed a Kamloops man will return to court next month.
Raymond Edward Swann was in Kamloops provincial court on Monday setting a date for a pre-trial conference ahead of a preliminary inquiry expected to take place next year.
Swann was originally charged with criminal negligence causing death in connection to the April 3, 2016, crash that killed 60-year-old Brian Watson. In February, prosecutors laid an additional charge of second-degree murder.
Watson’s widow, Ila, has told KTW her husband was riding his motorcycle on Squilax-Anglemont Road near Chase when he was rear-ended by a pickup truck, allegedly being driven by Swann.
Isla Watson said she was told by police the collision appeared to be deliberate, but noted her husband and Swann did not know one another.
Brian Watson worked in Kamloops for School District No. 73 as a facilities painter.
Swann, who is from Sorrento, is not in custody.
His pre-trial conference is scheduled to take place on Oct. 10.
A Kamloops man has been handed a 70-day jail sentence after being caught on security cameras earlier this month pleasuring himself outside a Barnhartvale home.
Christopher Mathieu pleaded guilty to one count each of committing an indecent act in a public place and breach of probation.
The 29-year-old was caught on security cameras outside the house of a Barnhartvale woman in the early-morning hours of Sept. 12. He left flowers and a note on her car and then proceeded to masturbate between the vehicle and the house.
In 2016, Mathieu was jailed for 28 days after pleading guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and two firearms offences. He was also placed on a two-year probation term and has since breached those conditions nine times.
A man accused of indecent assault against seven teenaged boys decades ago will not take the stand in his own defence.
Both the Crown and defence closed their cases Wednesday afternoon in the trial of Alan Davidson. The day began with B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Donegan ruling a videotaped confession Davidson gave to police in 2014 when he was arrested can be used as evidence in the trial.
Seven teenage complainants have testified against Davidson, who was a hockey and baseball coach in Clearwater, as well as an auxiliary RCMP member, in the late 1970s and early 1980s. About half were under the age — 14 years at the time — of consent when the incidents are alleged to have occurred.
Davidson later became a full-fledged member of the RCMP, serving in Saskatchewan. He is also charged with sexual offences from his time in the Prairie province.
More than eight hours of videotape were played in court last week as Sgt. Darren Carr cajoled Davidson into unburdening himself to police after his arrest in 2014. A lawyer had already told Davidson to not say anything.
Defence lawyer John Gustafson argued unsuccessfully the confession should not be allowed as evidence due to police tactics.
Carr testified police who arrested Davidson used a number of scenarios in an attempt to find out what occurred during the sports and camping outings.
Those scenarios included discussion of former NHLer Sheldon Kennedy’s stories of abuse at the hands of major-junior hockey coach Graham James. Carr also spoke with Davidson over the eight hours using the “conscience-based theme,” which involved telling the accused police had an overwhelming amount of evidence and then encouraging the interviewee to unburden himself to clear his conscience.
Gustafson noted the number of times during the interview when Davidson told Carr that his lawyer instructed him not to speak, as well as when he was not responsive and expressed tiredness.
But Carr said Davidson, a former police officer and a sheriff at the time of arrest, was aware.
“I had no concerns with Mr. Davidson’s operating mind,” Carr said. “This is someone who is sophisticated — at that time, he was a serving peace officer.”
The defence and Crown are scheduled to make final arguments Thursday in the trial that began on Sept. 11.
The Crown stayed charges Wednesday against a Barriere man accused of attempting to have sex with a 14-year-old girl.
Prosecutor Abel Fok stayed the count of sexual interference against a minor following a half-day of testimony. Charges are typically stayed when the Crown determines it does not have enough evidence to proceed with the trial.
The girl was 14 years old at the time. Her name is protected by a publication ban. KTW is not publishing the accused’s name in order to protect the identity of the girl.
The man charged, who is 24 years old, met the girl one evening, she testified in provincial court earlier Wednesday. A friend of the man charged picked her up and the group went to a friend’s house to drink.
Under federal law, the age of consent is 16. There is an exception for those close in age.
The teenaged girl said age was never discussed between the two before they engaged in consensual touching following a drive to a rural area. They did not have sex because the man could not get aroused due to drinking too much.
The next day, however, he sent her a sexually-related message on Facebook. The two later met, but there was no sexual talk or contact, she said.
The interaction came to light several months later when the messages were found on a laptop computer several months later and RCMP was contacted.
Defence lawyer Sheldon Tate asked the girl during cross-examination how she liked to portray herself using makeup and clothes. He asked her if people comment that she looks older than her actual age.
Last week’s shooting death of Red Scorpions co-founder Konaam Shirzad is the latest in a series of gang-related incidents in Kamloops over the last 18 months.
KTW has compiled a timeline of recent gang-related events going back to early 2016.
Feb. 18, 2016: Emergency crews are called to the Petro-Canada travel centre in west Kamloops after a report of shots fired. There, they find a man who was shot in the leg. The suspect fled the scene before police arrived. Police said the victim was not being co-operative with investigators.
March 3, 2016: KTW reports, based on information from an unnamed justice official, that Kamloops could be on the verge of a gang war. The source said the Red Scorpions, which controlled the local drug trade at the time, was facing mounting pressure from a rival criminal organization. The report is rebuffed by police, who deny any such escalation in tensions between rival gangs.
May 31, 2016: Reversing course from their statement less than two months earlier, police publicly announce the arrival of a violent new gang attempting to establish itself in Kamloops’ drug trade. RCMP Cpl. Jodi Shelkie says the Wolf Pack is known to use violence as a business tactic. Police had, in fact, been investigating the Wolf Pack’s actions in the Tournament Capital for more than six months when the announcement was made.
June 2, 2016: Police arrest three members of the Wolf Pack, including Bruce Davis, who was described in court as the leader of the gang’s local faction. RCMP Supt. Brad Mueller holds a press conference declaring the gang “dismantled” while displaying cash, guns and drugs seized in a raid.
June 25, 2016: A 29-year-old man is arrested following a shooting outside a condo complex near Thompson Rivers University. Prosecutors later allege Derek Muirhead was attempting to beat up an acquaintance when the gun went off.
Aug. 13, 2016: A specialized Lower Mainland police unit focussing on gangs descends on Kamloops for a weekend in what local Mounties call “a proactive measure.” The Uniform Gang Enforcement Team makes eight arrests and checks 130 vehicles and 23 residences.
Jan. 13, 2017: Heavily armed Kamloops Mounties descend on a North Kamloops gym owned by Konaam Shirzad, one of the original founders of the Red Scorpions — the gang behind the notorious 2007 Surrey Six slayings. Shirzad is not arrested and never faces charges in connection with the raid.
Sept. 21, 2017: Shirzad, 34, is shot dead outside his Guerin Creek home. Another man is hospitalized with a gunshot wound to his ankle. A neighbour who heard the gunshots tells KTW police had knocked on his door the morning of the murder asking about a BMW parked across the street, believed to be Shirzad’s vehicle. Police appeal to the public for surveillance video that might show the suspects.
A Crown prosecutor argued a former Thompson Rivers University student was in a position of “temporary trust” when he sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman after a New Year’s Eve party.
Defence and Crown lawyers made arguments Wednesday in the sentencing of Mathew Rittinger. The former student and member of the university’s golf team was found guilty after trial of sexual assault.
Rittinger, 25, originally stood accused of raping an 18-year-old woman and aggressively fondling her 19-year-old friend after leaving a party on Jan. 1, 2015. He was found guilty of sexually assaulting the 19-year-old, but acquitted on the charge relating to the 18-year-old.
The two women came to Rittinger’s home following a New Year’s Eve party two years ago. When they were unable to secure a ride home via Operation Red Nose or a taxi, Rittinger said the two could sleep at his house until they were able to get home.
Prosecutor Camille Cook told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Hope Hyslop that Rittinger was in a temporary position of trust because the woman slept in Rittinger’s home, adding the act was predatory. She argued for a jail sentence of four to six months in addition to a period of probation.
Defence lawyer Kevin Church said Rittinger has paid a price through loss of his job and a ban from university grounds. Church said Rittinger is unable to get work in human resources —the area of study for his university degree.
“Mr. Rittinger is remorseful,” Church said, arguing for a suspended sentence or intermittent jail sentence.
Cook said a suspended sentence or conditional discharge would send the wrong message.
“This is something that happens all the time,” she said. “The public-interest factor is abundantly clear and high.”
While the 18-year-old woman slept in an empty bedroom in Rittinger’s residence, he and the 19-year-old went to his room. After talking and making out, the woman eventually told Rittinger she wanted to go to sleep.
Court heard during the trial that Rittinger rolled her over on top of him a number of times — five or more, she testified — and aggressively grabbed at her genitals. Despite her saying no — 20 or more times, she said — and struggling against him, Rittinger continued to grab her above and below her pants, and unhooked her bra.
Justice Hope Hyslop is scheduled to give a decision at a later date.
