TUESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2012
THE
Freshly Cut
NEWS
CHRISTMAS TREES
Surrey
Man accused of beheading roommate fires his lawyer
5’to7’ from
WARNING: Graphic content
9.97
$
NEWSPAPER.COM
Tom Zytaruk
Now reporter Twitter @tomzytaruk
A Surrey man accused of seconddegree murder in the decapitation and dismemberment of his roommate in 2008 has fired his lawyer in the home stretch of what has been a lengthy trial. Ernie Allan Hosack, 40, is accused of killing Richard Falardeau, 54, and desecrating his body. His lawyer, Brian Coleman, was just about to launch into his final arguments on Friday morning, in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver, when Hosack pulled the plug. “Mr. Hosack came into court this morning and decided he was going to dismiss me as his counsel, which he did. Notwithstanding the judge’s comments to him, he persisted in doing that,” Coleman said. Justice Terry Schultes adjourned the case to Jan. 10 to give Hosack time to find a new lawyer. “I think we’re all being held in suspense,” Crown prosecutor Brad Kielmann said.
“As it stands, there’s no mistrial application.” Chris McPherson, Kielmann’s fellow Crown prosecutor, gave his final submissions, for the second time, in court Thursday. He argued Hosack had both the opportunity and motive to kill Falardeau, whom he’d met at a coffee shop in Surrey. Earlier in the trial, back in July of this year, the court heard Falardeau had invited Hosack to share an attic apartment he’d been renting at 14358 88th Ave. where the Surrey RCMP Missing Persons Unit encountered clouds of flies, in the August heat, after Falardeau’s brother had reported him missing. Venturing further into the sweltering attic, police found Falardeau’s headless torso stuffed inside a suitcase in a closet. His thumbs, anus, scrotum and testes were found in plastic bags in the refrigerator freezer. His skull, with some hair and part of the spine still attached, was found three months later, in marshy tall grass in a hollow off a pathway along the Hydro rightof-way, near 92nd Avenue and King George Boulevard.
tzytaruk@thenownewspaper.com
In court
Surrey wife killer, 75, loses appeal An elderly Surrey man who stabbed his wife with a steak knife 126 times has lost an appeal of his murder conviction. Sebastiano Damin, 75, attacked his wife Maria Catroppa, 69, while she was sleeping in their Monta Rosa townhouse in Fleetwood on Nov. 24, 2009. He was found guilty of second-degree murder. “Something snapped in my
head,” Damin told a psychiatrist at Royal Columbian Hospital after he was arrested. Trial Judge Ian Josephson found that while Damin was depressed at the time this didn’t prevent him from forming the intent to murder his wife. Justice Daphne Smith, of the B.C. Court of Appeal, upheld Damin’s conviction.
Maria Catroppa
Tom Zytaruk
A BRIGHTER FUTURE FOR YOUR KIDS Located in the best place to invest in BC, and what will soon be the region’s 2nd largest metropolitan centre, Ultra in City Centre is leading the way with a real estate investment for a brighter future. FOR YOUR KIDS
Real estate for their future and up to $7,000 in purchase incentives
|
1 BDRMS - $255,900
Sales Centre Open - Call For Holiday Hours | 10345 133A Street, Surrey
4391 King George Boulevard, South Surrey
LIVEATULTRA.COM | 604.588.6999
121112
604-596-9201
$3,000 donation in your name to the Mata Tripta Birthing Unit
CITY CENTRE STUDIOS - $186,900
PLANTLAND NURSERY & GARDEN CENTRE
www.artknappsurrey.com
FOR KIDS OF THE FUTURE
DEVELOPED BY
SEE AGENT FOR FULL DETAILS. PRICES & INCENTIVES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE. E.&E.O.
121312
AN08
A8