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Kamloops Supreme Court

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 —...

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,...

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...

Man convicted of second-degree murder to be sentenced next year

KAMLOOPS - Robert Donald Balbar who was convicted last week of killing his girlfriend Heather Hamill in 2003 will face sentencing in 2015. Last week, Balbar - who is currently being held at the Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre - was found guilty by a jury who took two days to deliberate his second-degree murder charge after a...

Father acquitted in allegations of sexually abusing daughter

DISCRETION ADVISED; CONTENT MAY BE DISTURBING KAMLOOPS – A justice in Kamloops Supreme Court acquitted a Merritt father accused of touching his daughter for a sexual purpose after determining the daughter’s testimony was inconsistent. Justice Miriam Gropper said while she found the daughter to be “extremely poised and coherent” as she delivered evidence in court,...

Man found guilty of second-degree murder in Kamloops re-trial

KAMLOOPS - A jury in Kamloops Supreme Court has found Robert Donald Balbar guilty of murdering his girlfriend Heather Hamilll in 2003. In court it was revealed Balbar killed Hamill by striking her in the head with a hammer. He then stored the body in a cooler before he eventually cast it in the Thompson...

Vancouver police officer gets schooled in Kamloops court

KAMLOOPS – A Vancouver traffic cop with over 20 years of experience learned a few lessons in court this week after he tried to help a friend fight a speeding ticket. Nelson Humberto Dossantos Teixeira had Const. Gerald Wickstead from the Vancouver Police Department represent him in an appeal hearing on Wednesday to challenge the...

Jurors set to deliberate on second-degree murder charge after trial concludes

KAMLOOPS – In their review of evidence, jurors will have to determine if Robert Donald Balbar’s testimony was genuine when he told them in a Kamloops Supreme Courtroom he killed his girlfriend Heather Hamill out of self-defence in 2003. In Monday morning’s closing submissions on day 19 of Balbar's second-degree murder trial, the accused's lawyer...

Prosecutor questions accused on two different testimonies

KAMLOOPS – The pressure continued in a Kamloops Supreme Courtroom Wednesday afternoon as a Crown prosecutor suggested a man accused of second-degree murder lied to a jury in 2009. Robert Donald Balbar told the court earlier he killed his girlfriend Heather Hamill out of self-defence when she threatened him and his son with a machete...

“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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...