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Court
Another example of the horrors of drug addiction: judge
KELOWNA - An admitted drug addict who brutally attacked another admitted drug addict pled guilty to aggravated assault and has been sentenced to two years in prison. James Andrew Miklik, 37, punched Margitt Laverentz 4 times after he felt she had “shorted” him on a drug deal and wasn’t happy with her response to his...
Kamloops man gets six months in jail for killing pedestrian
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops man was handed a jail sentence today for hitting and killing a pedestrian while driving without a licence. Donald Charles Isadore, born 1950, showed little reaction in Kamloops Provincial Court when Judge Stella Frame told him he would be serving jail time for his repeated instances of unlicenced driving. He never...
Date set for Snelson retrial
KAMLOOPS – After several delays and a successful bail, a date has been set for Neil George Snelson’s re-trial. Snelson, 47, was already tried and convicted of manslaughter in the death of Jennifer Cusworth in 2011. He appealed his conviction and won a second trial set to take place in Kamloops Supreme Court next year....
Teen arrested for arson in connection with townhouse fire
VERNON - A teenager has been arrested for arson in connection with a townhouse fire that sent residents fleeing the building. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says a 19-year-old man residing in the 44 Street townhouse will appear in court Friday on charges of arson with disregard for human life. Fire officials said the blaze erupted...
Heroin withdrawal won’t get plea withdrawal
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops Supreme Court judge turned down a man’s application to withdraw his guilty pleas after claiming his plea was to get out of jail long enough to obtain heroin and see his dog. Last November, James Arthur Bellerose, born 1976, pleaded guilty to possession charges in front of a supreme court judge....
Judge ignores sentence recommendation from both sides on assaults, head shavings
KAMLOOPS – Wearing a green sweater in the prisoner's dock, a Kamloops woman met her sentence hearing Tuesday afternoon by crying long, hard silent sobs into a tissue. Before Justice Ian Meiklem arrived to decide her fate, she and her mother told one another: “I love you.” Meiklem handed Mary Lynn Dyson, 30, a three-year...
Story of Lytton manslaughter comes to close 15 years later
KAMLOOPS - A man who beat his friend to death and successfully hid the body in a shallow grave for nearly 13 years before finally being discovered, was sentenced to nearly eight year in jail, in Kamloops Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon. Earlier this year, a jury convicted William Robert Smith, born 1967, of beating Sandy...
Judge rebukes ‘unacceptable conditions’ for teen held in Kamloops cells
KAMLOOPS - A provincial court judge let a 15-year-old Victoria girl out of a potential three-month jail sentence because she was improperly held in Kamloops city cells for five days in “unacceptable conditions,” her lawyer says. The girl was locked up in city cells for five days without seeing a judge, in part because Kamloops...
Guilty pleas can’t be withdrawn because of ‘confusion’
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops Supreme Court judge dismissed a man who wants to take back the guilty plea he made because he was “confused” and didn’t understand his criminal record could lead to a harsher sentence. Last week, Craig Robert Cecil Ferguson learned he will face sentencing on charges stemming from an assault he committed...
Friending a foe? The dangers of sharing too much on social media
KAMLOOPS – The story of a Kamloops catfish, who was sentenced last week for creating a fake Facebook profile just to harass ex-girlfriends, was not a surprise to social media expert Jesse Miller. His business deals with people who suffer the consequences of sharing too much information online. “When you post information online, what you...
Bobbitt hearing to reconvene in September
PENTICTON - David Wesley Bobbitt sat in the prisoner’s box for two weeks, listening to how his violent actions affected others, how police think he’s a liar, and why he is a psychopath and sexual sadist. The dangerous offender hearing and sentencing for Bobbitt began on June 23 and will continue Sept. 2. Crown prosecutors...
Psychiatrist has ‘no reason for optimism’ Bobbitt can be rehabilitated
PENTICTON - Not only is David Bobbitt a psychopath, he's a sexual sadist and deviant, a forensic psychiatrist said today during the offender’s dangerous offender hearing and sentencing in Penticton Supreme Court. Yesterday, Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe said Bobbitt had strong psychopathic traits, based on the offender’s long history of violence, which began at the age...
Father acquitted of shaking infant daughter
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops father who was accused of shaking his baby and causing traumatic brain injury was acquitted in Kamloops Supreme Court Thursday morning. Michael Beakley, born in 1978, phoned his mother outside of court to tell her Justice Hope Hyslop found him not guilty because the baby’s injuries could have occurred in a...
Lions Hall arsonist tells court to hurry up and sentence him
"IT'S RIDICULOUS. I PLED GUILTY." KELOWNA – The man who pleaded guilty to burning the Westbank Lions Hall last September has opted to represent himself in court in an apparent effort to speed sentencing. Kerry Robert Cooper, 30, appeared before a Justice of the Peace via video Thursday morning, saying he didn’t care what the...
Bobbitt’s a ‘psychopath’: Psychiatrist
PENTICTON - David Wesley Bobbitt is a clinical psychopath who showed uncommon violent behaviour even as a child, a forensic psychiatrist said today. Penticton knows Bobbitt best for his most recent, perhaps his most heinous crime when he took a young mother and her child captive for hours inside Dave's Second Hand Store on Ellis...
Victim’s mother gives emotional testimony in dangerous offender hearing
PENTICTON - The mother of a sexual assault victim in the dangerous offender sentencing hearing for David Bobbitt recalled the summer night her daughter went missing for hours, tortured by the man who held her captive. Her daughter hadn't shown up to work or dropped off her then 22-month-old son at his grandparents’ house to...
Kamloops ‘Catfish’ bullies ex-girlfriends through fake Facebook account, lands in court
KAMLOOPS – If you take a look at Chrissy Last’s Facebook page you’ll see she likes Nicholas Spark’s The Notebook, Breaking Bad, Seinfeld and listening to Drake. What you don’t know is she's a bully, harassing people—three women in particular—through her Facebook account. What you also may not know about Last: She is actually 38-year-old...
Lytton man awaits sentencing for killing friend nearly 15 years ago
KAMLOOPS – After killing his friend, burying his body and keeping it a secret for nearly 13 years, a Lytton man is expected to spend another six to nine years in prison. In 1999, when the two friends were drinking, William Robert Smith, born 1967, beat Sandy Charlie to death in 1999 after hearing he...
House party killer appeal shot down
KELOWNA - A 29-year-old Kelowna man convicted of shooting and killing a high school student at a house party in 2007 will not be granted appeal, according to a hearing summary released Thursday. Trevor Shannon, who was 22 at the time, was sentenced to life in prison in 2012. He maintains he was trying to...
BOBBITT HEARING: Witness told to calm down during testimony
PENTICTON - Justice Peter Rogers had to intervene between defence counsel and a witness who became increasingly defensive answering questions in a dangerous offender and sentencing hearing in Penticton Supreme Court. Earlier this week, a witness in the hearing for David Bobbitt said she is the victim of a sexual assault incident that took place...
Thieves targeted non-profit 11 times in a month
KAMLOOPS – “Frustrating” and “disheartening” are two words Jan Lingford uses to describe thieves targeting the disadvantaged. The executive director of the Kamloops Habitat for Humanity non-profit says thieves stole from the branch’s supply storage facility 11 times last month. Copper, aluminum, and steel – metals the organization uses to build houses for those who...
Driving a van full of pot plants leads to a fine
KAMLOOPS - A two-year court case for a man caught driving a van full of marijuana plants is over once he pays the $2,000 fine handed to him in Kamloops Provincial Court Monday morning. Corey Joseph Eld, 36, was arrested in November 2012 after a routine stop near Barriere revealed he was transporting 73 marijuana...
Man accused of online luring, child pornography will stand trial
VERNON - A Vernon man accused of possessing child pornography and luring children has been ordered to stand trial. David Willerth, born in 1974, faces 25 charges including making or publishing child pornography, communicating via computer to to lure children under 16, and invitation to sexual touching. After a five-hour preliminary inquiry June 19, the...
Judge to determine if alleged child predator will go to trial
VERNON - A Vernon man should learn today if he will be tried for a long list of sexual crimes against children. David Willerth, born in 1974, was arrested last summer on numerous child luring and child pornography charges. He faces 25 charges, including making or publishing child pornography, communicating via computer to lure a...