REGIONAL DISTRICT: Landfill gas a money maker A5 Wednesday, February 22, 2012
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Sex assault trial starts ■ Court
A Taste of India a treat for all involved A14
A Little Dip’ll Do Ya
Alleged at biker clubhouse Teresa Mallam arts@pgfreepress.com
The trial for three men accused of sexual assault and other offences that stem from events alleged to have occurred inside a biker gang clubhouse in March 2011, got underway this week in B.C. Supreme Court. Crown counsel Cassandra Malfair outlined the Crown’s case Monday, providing a narrative of events she expects the court will hear about through witnesses and the complainant’s own account. The incidents are alleged to have happened March 24, 2011 at a house on Fir Street believed to be a Renegades clubhouse. Albert Donald Piche, 31, Julian Niskakoski, 19, and Adam Andrew Boyd, 21, all face charges of assault, sexual assault with a weapon, sexual assault causing bodily harm, unlawful confinement and administering a noxious thing. All three men stood with their respective counsel Monday and pleaded ‘not guilty’ to all charges against them. Malfair said on March 23, 2011, a group of young women attending a sports event agreed to go along to the clubhouse when one of them wanted to meet up with a man she knew to talk about a cell phone. “The girls thought it might be ‘funny’ to go to a motorcycle clubhouse and (so) they agreed to go,” Malfair said. Three of the women left soon after arriving, however the complainant
and her former female roommate stayed behind – the only females among three or four males. The ex-roommate, a key Crown witness, took the stand Monday and gave a number of “I can’t remember” and “I don’t recall” answers to several questions asked by Malfair. The witness said she consumed “vodka soda” the night in question and became “quite intoxicated.” She also admitted taking cocaine but denied consuming ecstasy. She felt sick, she said, and eventually passed out on the bed upstairs. “How is your memory of the event that evening?” asked Malfair. “Very blurry,” said the witness. However, under cross-examination by defence lawyer Keith Aartsen (counsel for Piche) the witness remembered much more. Q. “You remember drinking?” A. “Yes.” Q. “You remember taking cocaine.” A. “Yes.” Q. “If there had been sexual activity surely you would remember that? – I appreciate that it is embarrassing.” The witness paused. “I wasn’t fully dressed at one point.” “Naked?” asked Aartsen. “Correct.” “Downstairs? “Correct.” The witness told Aartsen there were three or four males present and at one point, she remembers turn to PAGE A4
A lla n W ISHA RT/ Fre e Pre s s
Two of the approximately 30 people who participated in the Polar Bear Dip at Ness Lake Bible Camp on Sunday hit the water. The dip was postponed from New Year’s Day after a fire destroyed the gym at the camp.
Loan goes to alternate approval DeLynda Pilon newsroom@pgfreepress.com
Council passed the first three readings of a bylaw to authorize the city to borrow money for the River Road dike project, then decided to seek public approval for the loan through the alternative approval process. When the municipality decides to borrow money, it has to have public approval which can be sought in one of two ways. Council can use either a referendum or the alternative approval process. City staff applied for provincial and federal funding for the River Road dike project at the request of the former city council, and the request was granted after the current council members were elected. The total cost of the project is $11.5 million. Two and a half million will
come from the land development reserve fund and $5,442,000 will come through grant funding. That leaves $3.6 million the city will need to pay to cover its portion of the cost of the project, money that will be borrowed, pending the outcome of the approval process. Coun. Albert Koehler asked if the city could avoid borrowing the money if it sold off some of its land assets. City manager Derek Bates said though the city has some land reserves, the balance is not in a particularly healthy place right now, and he isn’t aware of a circumstance where a land sale not already earmarked would serve the city considering the project has a deadline of March 2013. “There’s an uncertainty raised by that funding gap that may not fit this borrowing circumturn to PAGE A3