Kamloops Supreme Court
Manager of Kamloops dial-a-dope ring gets conditional sentence
KAMLOOPS – The manager of a dial-a-dope ring in Kamloops is avoiding prison time and…
Former member wants money back from Church of Scientology
KAMLOOPS - A former parishioner has filed a notice of civil claim in Kamloops Supreme Court against the Church of Scientology of British Columbia for “negligent misrepresentation” in counselling funds and extra payments. In her claim filed April 29, Lorna Carleton states during her time as a parishioner for the church from November 1988 to...
WASELENKOFF TRIAL: Father and son describe finding child pornography
KAMLOOPS – When Frans Van Der Woning and his son Ray were renovating Frans' McGill Road condominum one Saturday in 2012, they cut a hole in the ceiling and thought they found hidden treasure. They reached between the floor joists shared with the unit above — belonging to retired special education teacher Jerry Waselenkoff —...
Mental health rehabilitation earns drug dealer lesser sentence
KAMLOOPS - A dial-a-dope drug dealer caught in an undercover RCMP operation was handed a one-year probationary sentence on Monday, Jan. 12 for dealing cocaine. Jeremy Machmer, 27, appeared in Kamloops Supreme Court where he pleaded guilty to trafficking cocaine. In September 2013, Machmer sold two rocks of the drug for fifty dollars to a...
Drug trafficker hopes Youtube project will keep him out of prison
KAMLOOPS - It is now up to a Supreme Court justice to decide if a drug supplier's rehabilitative project has earned him the chance to serve his jail sentence in the community over Crown's recommended six-year federal imprisonment. Jean-Claude Auger, who pleaded guilty to his involvement in a drug trafficking ring, was in court Jan. 13 where his lawyer, Chris Thompson,...
Murder re-trial begins with recorded confession from accused
GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY KAMLOOPS – The re-trial for a Kamloops man accused of beating his girlfriend to death began in Kamloops Supreme Court Wednesday afternoon with a confession he allegedly made to an undercover police officer posing as a crime boss. In 2007, Robert Donald Balbar met with several undercover police officers for nearly three...
UPDATE: Jury hears of body’s discovery in Thompson River in 11-year-old murder case
COARSE LANGUAGE, GRAPHIC CONTENT ADVISORY KAMLOOPS – A crime scene investigator told a Kamloops jury he observed open head wounds when he found the decomposing body of a woman in the Thompson River near Indian Point in August 2003. “There were injuries to the skull.... The body was floating and (was) up against the upstream...
Machete entered in evidence in murder trial
KAMLOOPS – The jury in a the second-degree murder trial of a Kamloops man inspected an 18-inch long machete entered in evidence in Kamloops Supreme Court Friday morning. The blade was found by retired Sgt. Steven Gehl, who investigated the forensic evidence in the death of Heather Hamill in 2003. Robert Donald Balbar is accused...
Witness in murder trial drove accused and a cooler to the river
"I NEVER LOOKED INSIDE THE COOLER AND I NEVER ASKED" KAMLOOPS – The latest witness in a murder trial told the jury Monday afternoon the man charged with second-degree murder was sketchy, anxious and not very talkative when he drove him and a five-foot-long cooler to an unmarked road near the Halston Bridge sometime in...
Undercover officer questioned suspect on criminal activity before introduction to crime boss
"I KNOW YOU KILLED HER" GRAPHIC LANGUAGE/SUBJECT MATTER KAMLOOPS – A jury heard recorded discussions between an undercover police officer posing as a criminal, who encouraged a murder suspect to speak to his fake crime boss about the murder of his girlfriend in Supreme Court Tuesday afternoon. The target was Robert Donald Balbar, who is...
Undercover officers convinced accused he was joining a gang
KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops Supreme Court jury was privy to details of elaborate and costly business dealings between undercover RCMP officers posing as criminals, trying to ensnare a murder suspect in a three-month-long Mr. Big sting. Robert Donald Balbar is charged with second-degree murder in the 2003 death of his girlfriend Heather Hamill. Court viewed...
Witness describes the cooler believed to hold victim’s remains
"THE KITCHEN DIDN'T MATCH THE REST OF THE APARTMENT IN TERMS OF APPEARANCE" KAMLOOPS – A clean kitchen next to a living room that was in “complete and utter disarray” is how a former cop described the accused’s apartment to a Kamloops Supreme Court jury Thursday morning. Connie Buckle, then a constable fresh out of...
Pathologist describes victim’s fatal head wounds
KAMLOOPS – Autopsy photos of at least nine blows to a murder victim's head were presented by a forensic pathologist in Kamloops Supreme Court Friday. Robert Donald Balbar is charged with the second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend Heather Hamill. Earlier in the trial, court heard Balbar’s video recorded confession when he told...
Accused in murder case said he embellished confession to impress crime boss; acted in self-defense
KAMLOOPS – The man who confessed to an undercover officer posing as a crime boss said he embellished some of his facts to convince him he was was a trustworthy employee of a false criminal organization. Robert Donald Balbar is on trial for the second-degree murder of his girlfriend Heather Hamill. After Crown wrapped its...
“Do you have any idea how much blood there was?”
PROSECUTOR QUESTIONS MAN ON TRIAL FOR MURDER KAMLOOPS – A Kamloops jury watched today as a prosecutor aggressively cross-examined a man who said he bludgeoned his girlfriend to death in self defence. In Kamloops Supreme Court on Tuesday, Crown prosecutor Iain Currie asked question after question, often repeating himself and taking Robert Donald Balbar through...