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SNELSON TRIAL UPDATE: Kelowna killer sentenced; only 19 months left to serve
KAMLOOPS - It took two trials and nearly 22 years for the case and the jail doors to close on Jennifer Cusworth’s killer, but it will only be one year and seven months before his release. Neil George Snelson, 48, was sentenced to 11 years today, Sept. 16, in Kamloops Supreme Court. Since he was...
JAIL SEX TRIAL: “In hindsight I probably should have stopped it:” Accused
KAMLOOPS – An extensive internal RCMP investigation and eventual trial started when one officer casually told another about “a couple of girls getting it on” in cells; the hope was to share a laugh. But Cpl. Kelly Butler told Const. Evan Elgee she didn’t find his story funny. Instead, she wrote an email to upper...
Decision on Kelowna Mountie accused of assault expected in September
LANGUAGE ADVISORY KELOWNA – The judge in the trial of a Kelowna RCMP constable accused of assaulting an elderly bar patron will have to decide if the officer believed John McCormick was obstructing justice when he refused to leave Rose’s pub in downtown Kelowna last summer. Judge Gregory Koturbash heard final submissions in Kelowna Provincial...
Former Kamloops city councillor fined for taking advantage of society funds
KAMLOOPS — A former city councillor and director of the Kamloops Heritage Railway Society who shifted $100,000 of organization money into his account and back twice will face a $2,000 fine after pleading guilty to two counts under the province’s Society Act. Joe Leong, 65, was originally charged with two counts of fraud, two counts...
Friend of cop charged with child porn says accuser-wife showed pornography after child’s birthday party
"IT WAS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC." KELOWNA – A friend of a former Vernon cop and his ex-wife Valerie Little, who accuses him of downloading child pornography, says she believes Little was trying to get pregnant to have a better chance at taking sole custody of their kids. She also testified Little accidentally played a pornographic video...
SNELSON TRIAL: Lawyers present final arguments in manslaughter trial
KAMLOOPS - Motive, opportunity and his own lies all point to Neil George Snelson as the person who strangled and beat 19-year-old Jennifer Cusworth to death over 20 years ago in Kelowna, court heard from the Crown during final arguments today, June 15. Cusworth, an Okanagan Community College student was found in a ditch on...
SNELSON TRIAL UPDATE: Friends recall last moments with Jennifer Cusworth
KAMLOOPS - The last time Jennifer Cusworth’s friends saw her alive at a house party, they planned to get her home safely after drinking into the early morning hours of October 16, 1993. For Pam Coulombe and Faith Klinksiek their plan didn’t work out; the 19-year-old disappeared from the party. A jury heard Coulombe and...
‘He’s grabbing onto my gun,’ says cop charged with assault
LANGUAGE ADVISORY KELOWNA – An RCMP officer accused of assault says the elderly bar patron he took to the ground, punched three times and arrested last year was going for his gun. “I (felt) a very distinct feeling on my right hip,” the accused, Const. Grant Jacobson, 32, said in court today, May 26. “In...
WASELENKOFF TRIAL: Retired teacher not guilty of possessing child porn
KAMLOOPS - While a Kamloops Supreme Court Justice acknowledged the testimony of a retired teacher was "carefully woven" in his trial for possession of child pornography, he delivered an acquittal today, May 14. Jerry Waselenkoff was charged with one count of possessing child porn after a downstairs neighbour, Frans Van Der Woning, located four cases...
Former Vernon Mountie to stand trial this summer on child porn charges
VERNON - A former Vernon mountie charged with possession of child pornography will stand trial this summer. Ryan Hampton, 37, was scheduled to start his trial Mar. 2 in Vernon Supreme Court but his case has now been put over until July. It has also been moved to the Kelowna courthouse. Hampton, a former police...
Witness to deadly B.C. boat crash recalls tears from man on trial
KAMLOOPS - A man whose speedboat crashed on a B.C. lake cradled the head of a dying houseboat operator and cried as he waited for help to arrive, a witness has testified. Lubomir Vitanov, who was a passenger on the houseboat on July 3, 2010, said he saw Leon Reinbrecht holding the victim's head after...
‘One can hardly imagine a more horrific assault’ than Bobbitt’s: Crown
KELOWNA – Reckless, self-serving, grandiose, entitled, antisocial, narcissistic, lacking in empathy, sexually sadistic, psychopathic and violent. Those are some of the words the Crown used to describe David Wesley Bobbitt in a hearing to determine if he deserves dangerous offender status. Bobbitt, 39, has already pleaded guilty to seven charges, but before Justice Peter Rogers...
Bobbitt sentencing reconvenes in Kelowna
KELOWNA – An ex-girlfriend who says she too was sexually abused by David Wesley Bobbitt is not credible, according to defence lawyer James Pennington. On Wednesday morning Bobbitt’s sentencing reconvened in Kelowna Supreme Court after a seven month break. Since starting June 23, the focus has been to determine if Bobbitt, who pleaded guilty to...
Lumby man will stand trial for school teacher’s murder
VERNON - A Lumby man accused of murdering his girlfriend, a local school teacher, will stand trial in Supreme Court. Following a preliminary inquiry at the Vernon Courthouse last week, the judge ruled there is enough evidence to order Howard Everett Krewson, 55, to stand trial. Krewson is accused of killing Vernon school teacher Linda...
Witness shot at three times, continues following
KELOWNA – A witness who took the stand in the attempted murder trial of accused Westside Road shooter Michael Ellis was shot at three separate times, but still refused to stop following him. Michael James Scott is an onsite construction supervisor with the Ministry of Transportation. He was in his work truck on Westside Road...