WEDNESDAY
August 1, 2012
A division of
Vol. 27 No. 61
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COMOX VALLEY RECORD
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Murder verdict expected this week
BIG IG TIME OUT
Annual Cumberland festival reveals schedule. ■ 10
READER 1-1 SO FAR
Erin Haluschak Record Staff
The Canadian team of Martin Reader (Comox) and Josh Binstock (Toronto) will have their work cut out for them Wednesday at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, England when they meet world No. 3 Brazil in their final preliminary round match of the men’s beach volleyball competition. The Canadian duo got things off to a great start on Saturday (July 28), defeating Great Britain 21-19, 21-13 then lost 21-14, 21-18 to Norway on Monday (July 30).
... Complete story on ■ 29
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escalating quickly. Port Hardy RCMP officers took to the water in an attempt to locate the vessel. This was a challenging task given the diminishing light, and no exact location being available. RCMP Island District Emergency Response Team (ERT) was activated to assist, based on the report of a weapon, and the threat to life. Using cellular telephone ‘pings’ off towers in the North Island area, members of the RCMP’s Operational Communications Centre in Courtenay were able to identify a general location for the vessel. The remoteness of the area and the constant movement of the
The teen accused of murdering James Denton will know his fate Wednesday morning. The verdict and sentencing arguments — if required — will be heard in a Courtenay Supreme Court courtroom for the 17-yearold accused, charged with second-degree murder, whose trial concluded in June. Court heard throughout the trial that Denton, 19, was stabbed twice — once in the left armpit and once in the left lower back — near the entrance to G.P. Vanier Secondary School following the conclusion last July of a day-long music festival at the nearby Comox Valley Exhibition Grounds. If Justice R.B.T. Goepel delivers a guilty plea, Crown prosecutor Gordon Baines has indicated he will seek an adult sentence for the youth. Defence lawyer Michael Mulligan said there are three possible verdicts that the judge can find. “If the judge finds that the Crown has not disproven self-defence and that is the Crown’s burden to disprove that,” he noted in June. “If the judge found that selfdefence was applicable, that is a complete defence and he would be acquitted altogether. Another possible verdict would be if the judge found that the Crown had not proven all of the elements of murder, including that subjective foresight of death, but that selfdefence wasn’t applicable, another possible verdict could be guilty of manslaughter.” Visit www.comoxvalleyrecord. com for updates Wednesday and Friday’s Record newspaper for more.
See WANTED, page 2
photos@comoxvalleyrecord.com
THE FISHING BOAT Opal T sits at the Port Hardy marina with a broken window after a dramatic incident Sunday night that has led to four criminal charges against a 49-year-old Courtenay man. PHOTOS BY J.R. RARDON/BLACK PRESS
Boating drama leads to charges J.R. Rardon Black Press
PORT HARDY — A fishing boat skipper from Courtenay allegedly armed with a shotgun and knives and threatening two crew members led to a rescue at sea involving members of the Port Hardy and Port McNeill RCMP detachments late Sunday night. Shortly after 8:30 p.m., a request for assistance was received from a female crew member aboard the 30-foot gillnet fishing vessel Opal T as it travelled in the waters off Vancouver Island, near Port Hardy. The 26-year-old woman reported that the vessel’s skipper was high on drugs and threatening to kill her and the other crew
member, a 21-year-old man. Charges of assault with a weapon, uttering threats, pointing a firearm and careless use of a firearm have been laid against Karl Darwin Thomas, 49. He was scheduled to appear Tuesday morning in a Port Hardy courtroom. The pair had sought safety on the roof of the vessel, and the woman reported they had been physically assaulted and threatened by the skipper. There was a loaded shotgun on board, and multiple knives. As RCMP officers were being mobilized to respond, additional information came in from the caller, indicating that shots had been fired, and the situation was
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