Crime

RCMP: Pressure for emergency services reaches unprecedented level over long weekend

PENTICTON - RCMP said the pressure Boonstock put on emergency services over the long weekend was taken to unprecedented levels. In a statement released Wednesday, Const. Kris Clark said the large number of overdoses and the death of a 24-year-old Alberta woman caused “alarm for the overwhelmed emergency and security operations”. RCMP provided additional resources...

RCMP say Boonstock needs to reimburse government for additional police costs

PENTICTON - RCMP say Boonstock organizers need to reimburse the provincial government for additional police officers required during the festival weekend, after private security failed to provide adequate resources. The two final days of the festival required additional personnel since RCMP had to shift their focus to security and public safety. A new cost analysis...

Boonstock says RCMP accounting is ‘speculation’

PENTICTON - Boonstock organizers say they received a bill from the provincial government three-and-a-half times more than the additional $50,000 RCMP say is owed for extra costs incurred over the festival weekend last month. The Ministry of Justice sent an invoice to Boonstock organizers with a “total owing” of nearly $177,000, and gave them 30...

Dangerous offender hearing postponed due to judge’s illness

PENTICTON - The dangerous offender hearing for an imprisoned Penticton man has been postponed to an unknown date. Justice Geoff Barrow fell ill unexpectedly and is unable to oversee the Supreme Court trial, said Crown Counsel. David Wesley Bobbitt is in custody at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre after pleading guilty last year to charges of...

Dangerous offender hearing to start next week

PENTICTON - A dangerous offender hearing and sentencing for sex offender David Wesley Bobbitt will begin next Monday, June 23 in Penticton Supreme Court. Bobbitt pleaded guilty last April to several charges including sexual assault, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and confinement from an incident in 2012. Sentencing through the dangerous offender hearing, which...

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...

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...

Dangerous offender hearing reconvenes this afternoon

PENTICTON - The dangerous offender hearing and sentencing of a Penticton man charged with sexual assault, aggravated assault and unlawful confinement, will reconvene in Penticton Supreme Court today after a two-month break. David Wesley Bobbitt last appeared in court the week of June 23 for the start of his dangerous offender hearing and sentencing for...

BOBBITT: Forensic officer gives crime scene evidence

PENTICTON - Crown prosecutors called four witnesses to the stand, including a forensic identification officer, this afternoon during the dangerous offender hearing and sentencing of alleged sexual assault offender David Bobbitt. The hearing reconvened in Penticton Supreme Court Tuesday after a two month hiatus. Crown prosecutor Nashina Devji called witnesses to the stand in relation...

BOBBITT: Doctor says victim suffered life-threatening injuries

PENTICTON - The victim of an aggravated and sexual assault incident on July 31 2011 suffered life-threatening injuries, an emergency doctor said today during the dangerous offender hearing and sentencing of Penticton man, David Bobbitt. Dr. James Atkins treated the victim in the early morning of July 31, 2011, shortly after her arrival to the...

BOBBITT: Dangerous offender hearing to resume in October

PENTICTON - The dangerous offender hearing and sentencing of David Bobbitt will continue next month. Bobbitt pleaded guilty last year to seven charges, including unlawful confinement, and sexual and aggravated assault in relation to a 2011 incident when he confined a 22-year-old woman and her toddler in his second-hand store, sexually assaulted the woman and...

Bobbitt hearing could extend into the new year

PENTICTON - The dangerous offender hearing for David Bobbitt may continue into the new year after a Supreme Court Justice ordered a recall on a witness whose whereabouts are unknown to the court and police. Defence lawyer Jim Pennington applied for the right to further question the witness who testified earlier in the hearing that Bobbitt...

Oliver job site raided by thieves

OLIVER – The RCMP in Oliver are asking for the public’s help to find those responsible for stealing $13,500 worth of equipment. Police say thieves raided the job site in the 4300-block of Black Sage Road overnight between Wednesday, Dec. 17 and Thursday, Dec. 18. The crooks got away with 600 litres of diesel fuel,...

UPDATE: Bank robbery suspect turns himself in to Kelowna RCMP

KELOWNA – A man wanted in connection with a Kelowna bank robbery turned himself into police Thursday night. Rory Richard Feeney, 31, was identified as the man who allegedly demanded money from a teller at the downtown branch of the TD Bank on Tuesday, according to RCMP. Police say no weapon was used, no one...