FOERSTER TRIAL: Jury begins deliberation

KELOWNA – A Cherryville man’s fate now rests in the hands of a jury.

A seven man, five woman jury was given its final instructions by Supreme Court Justice Peter Rogers Friday. The sequestered jury will now deliberate on whether Matthew Foerster, 28, is guilty of first degree murder.

To find Foerster guilty of first degree murder, the jury must find that he was sexually assaulting his victim, 18-year-old Taylor Van Diest, or attempting to do so, when he killed her on the railway tracks in Armstrong Oct. 31 2011.

In final arguments Thursday, the Crown said there is no other plausible reason Foerster was in Armstrong, on a secluded pathway that Halloween night than to sexually assault someone. Crown lawyer Iain Currie said Foerster’s actions that night were planned and purposeful and that he is guilty of murder in the first degree.

Foerster’s defense lawyer Lisa Jean Helps argued it’s possible Foerster went to Armstrong for consensual sex, and panicked when Van Diest screamed at his proposal. She said he is guilty of manslaughter, not first degree murder.

Stay with InfoTel News for the verdict.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.

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FOERSTER TRIAL: “Taylor Van Diest caught her own killer" – Infotel News