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Vernon man accused of murder released from custody

VERNON - An 18-year-old Vernon man accused of murder is no longer in custody. Brandon Wellington, who stands accused of second degree murder in connection with the death of Jason Hardy, was released on bail Monday, Oct. 26. His bail is set at $10,000 and he must adhere to a number of court-ordered conditions.  Greater...

Man accused in Armstrong woman’s death ordered to stand trial

VERNON - The man accused of killing an Armstrong mother of two has been ordered to stand trial. Logan Scott, 31, of Salmon Arm was charged with manslaughter and theft under $5,000 in August 2014, nine months after Jillian McKinty, 27, was found dead in her Armstrong home. Following a preliminary inquiry this week in...

Splatsin First Nation launches lawsuit against B.C. government

ENDERBY - A local First Nation has filed a lawsuit against the B.C. government accusing it of ignoring the band's jurisdiction over the welfare of its children.  The Splatsin First Nation in Enderby served the province a notice of claim during a rally outside Premier Christy Clark’s constituency office in Kelowna Tuesday, Oct. 13. The...

TAYLOR TRIAL: Jurors will hear final arguments next week before deliberating verdict

KAMLOOPS - Both the Crown and the defence have finished presenting their evidence in the Damien Taylor murder trial in Kamloops and jurors will hear closing submissions from lawyers next week. Taylor is charged with second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend CJ Fowler. The 16-year-old’s body was found December 5, 2012 near a...

Guilty verdict for dangerous driver who hit Vernon firefighter with truck

VERNON - A man has been found guilty of hitting a North Okanagan firefighter with his truck. Ian Douglas Burns, 28, was convicted of dangerous driving causing bodily harm in connection with the June 26, 2013 incident this week in Vernon Provincial Court. The victim, Stephan Hidasi, a firefighter with the BX/Swan Lake Fire Department,...

SNELSON: How the sentence for a Kelowna killer breaks down

IS IT 11 YEARS, SIX YEARS OR ONE YEAR? HOW ABOUT ALL OF THE ABOVE KAMLOOPS — Convicted killer Neil Snelson was arrested in 2009, sentenced yesterday to 11 years in prison and will likely be released around this time next year. Makes complete sense, right? A jury convicted him earlier this summer of the...

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...

Vernon men charged with murder return to court

VERNON - A pair of local men accused in the murder of 42-year-old Jason Hardy were in Vernon Provincial Court again this week. Brandon Joseph Clayton Wellington, 18, and Tal Kalum La Riviere, 28, both face second degree murder charges in relation to Hardy’s death. A 14-year-old Greater Vernon boy, whose name is protected under...

Acquitted Kamloops RCMP officer still awaiting internal conduct hearing

KAMLOOPS - It’s been nearly one year since his trial and five years since the event which took him to trial, yet Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Rick Brown has yet to have a conduct hearing from his employer. Brown was acquitted on a breach of trust charge in October of last year. Despite his acquittal, he...

Vernon judge ruffles feathers by refusing to sentence alleged fraudster

"I CAN’T BE THROWING PEOPLE IN JAIL WHO SAY ‘I DIDN’T DO IT’" VERNON - A bit of courthouse drama unfolded at the Vernon Law Courts Monday when a judge refused to sentence an accused fraudster on charges she wouldn’t admit to committing. Desiree Dorothy Pelletier is charged with forgery, theft of $5,000 or under...

SNELSON TRIAL: Killer’s sentence depends on finding of sexual assault argument

KAMLOOPS —It’s been almost 22 years since the night Neil Snelson killed college student Jennifer Cusworth after a party in Kelowna in 1993 and now Cusworth's family has one week left to find out how long he'll spend in prison. The 19-year-old Cusworth was found dead in a ditch on Swamp Road in Kelowna in...

Vernon pedophile sentenced to over six years in jail for ‘depraved’ acts

JUDGE SEES TO REMOVAL OF TATTOO 'TROPHY' VERNON - A diagnosed pedophile is going behind bars for what a Vernon Provincial Court judge called vile, depraved and repeated sex crimes against his step-daughters. The 41-year-old man, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the girls, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the girls when...

Abusive husband sentenced to jail for assaulting, injuring wife

"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU AND I'M GOING TO BE SMILING AS YOU TAKE YOUR LAST BREATH." KELOWNA – A local man with a history of physically abusing his wife was sentenced to 15 months in jail for an assault that left her with a cut lip, bruises and abrasions on her body. On March...

‘I thought I just witnessed somebody being murdered’

KAMLOOPS — The last thing Gil Anderson saw before he walked his daughter to school on the morning of June 2, 2014 were two silhouettes fist-fighting in his neighbour's yard before one knocked the other over and delivered three blows to its opponent’s head with a shovel. “After I heard the first strike of the...

First wife testifies in trial of former Vernon cop charged with child porn

KELOWNA – The first wife of a former Vernon RCMP officer charged with child porn described him as a confrontational man who often raised his voice. Jennifer Fisher and Ryan Hampton’s marriage officially ended in 2011, the same year he married his accuser, Valerie Little. Little, herself a member of the RCMP, told police she...

Deceit, identity theft and bigger breasts will cost jailed fraudster over $17K

KAMLOOPS - After stealing an 83-year-old man’s identity to use as a co-signer on breast implants, a tummy tuck and liposuction, a local woman owes more than $17,000 along with nine months in jail, a Kamloops Provincial Court Judge decided today, June 23. Judge Len Marchand sentenced Brandie Bloor, a woman with a history of...

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...

Sentence reduced for 63-year-old man convicted of bringing cocaine to Kelowna

KELOWNA – A 63-year-old Kelowna man convicted of conspiring to traffic cocaine from Vancouver to Kelowna in 2008 had his sentence reduced in Vancouver Court of Appeal Monday, June 1. RCMP wiretaps revealed Thanh Hai Tran, 41, of Vancovuer was trying to find “good-quality cocaine” for King Ting Yung, 63, to bring to Kelowna. On...

SNELSON TRIAL: Ex-wife of accused was vigilant after hearing of missing girl

KAMLOOPS - Katherine Oystryk, 44, remembers hearing about Jennifer Cusworth and watching out for her own safety after the 19-year-old girl went missing from a Kelowna house party her then-husband attended 21 years ago. Now Oystryk's ex-husband, Neil George Snelson, 48, stands accused of manslaughter in Cusworth’s killing. This is his second trial. Oystryk testified...

‘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...