Peace Arch News, May 22, 2012

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Tuesday May 22, 2012 (Vol. l. 37 No. 41 41) 1)

V O I C E

O F

W H I T E

R O C K

A N D

S O U T H

S U R R E Y

w w w. p e a c e a r c h n e w s . c o m

Four-in-a-row: Earl Marriott Secondary’s senior boys rugby side won a fourth straight Fraser Valley championship Thursday in Abbotsford, edging the rival Robert Bateman Timberwolves 7-0. see page A27

Explosion, house fire erupt after gunman releases woman held hostage for 6½ hours

Surrey man dies in Kamloops standoff Tim Petruk Kamloops This Week

Ian Matheson photo

Police learn man is wrapped in explosives.

A 48-year-old Surrey man is presumed dead following a 6½-hour standoff at a Kamloops home Thursday that ended with the home reduced to rubble. “This has been a terrible night for everybody,” Kamloops RCMP Staff Sgt. Grant Learned said as he addressed reporters at about 12:45 a.m. Friday, with a fully

engulfed house fire serving as backdrop for the impromptu media scrum. The incident began around 5:20 p.m. May 17, when police received a report of shots fired at a single-family home in Kamloops’ Dufferin neighbourhood. Neighbours called 911 after spotting a man wearing a trench coat and armed with a shotgun enter the home. A 44-year-old single mother, her four chil-

dren – aged 13, 11, nine and eight – and the woman’s current boyfriend were in the home. Learned described the gunman as the woman’s estranged boyfriend who was still distraught over their breakup two years earlier. After entering the home, he fired a single shot into the ceiling then told all but his former girlfriend to leave the house, Learned said Friday morning. see page A2

Murder charges

Trio ordered to stand trial Sheila Reynolds Black Press

Three people charged with the 2007 murder of a Surrey mother of three have been ordered to stand trial. Amanpreet Kaur Bahia’s body was found in a pool of blood in her home near 125 Street and 58 Avenue more than five years ago by family members who had returned from an outing. Police described the death as a “brutal, violent attack.” Two of her three young daughters were home and were left to fend for themselves for several hours while their mother lay dead. Amanpreet Bahia Police say they’d identivictim fied a suspect early on and, in December 2010, the Saskatchewan RCMP Major Crime Historical Case Unit provided new information that advanced the investigation. Last year, Amanpreet’s husband, Baljinder Singh Bahia, 41, was arrested, along with two others – 33-year-old Eduard Viktorovitch Baranec and Tanpreet Kaur Athwal, 42. All three were charged with first-degree murder. The trial was ordered last Tuesday after a short preliminary hearing that began the day before in Surrey Provincial Court.

Dan Ferguson photo

Ellaray Lewis, 5, shares a laugh with her dad, Craig, in their backyard last week, with her next surgery, scheduled for June 5, miles from her mind.

Catching up with Ellaray

Five years and 18 surgeries later… Tracy Holmes Staff Reporter

It was a matter-of-fact statement that made Craig Lewis’ heart soar: “Daddy, I have no more hairy nevus there.” Five-year-old Ellaray rubbed her left hip as she said it, feeling a patch of the new skin that’s slowly overtaking the extensive brownish blemishes she was born with. “That’s five years and 18 surgeries,” her dad said. “Her next question is, ‘Is the doctor going to finish the rest of

me?’ This little girl is so close…” Ellaray’s story first captured the hearts of Semiahmoo Peninsula residents in May 2008. Born with a rare skin condition that plastered her body with more than 100 hairy brownish spots and a taillike tumour that stretched nearly eight inches across her bottom, Ellaray has undergone many surgeries and treatments in her five years – with more to come. Her next is set for June 5. Three years ago – 2½ years into the

tot’s lifelong fight against what developed into an aggressive skin cancer – doctors began implanting expansion bags under Ellaray’s skin, to grow new skin to replace her diseased tissue. It was last month when Ellaray showed her dad the progress on her hip. Next month, doctors will start work on her front side. The surgery is scheduled for three days after a fundraiser to support Ellaray and her dad on their journey. see page A4

File photo

Ellaray and dad in 2008.

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