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WEDNESDAY, February 20, 2013
NEWS BRIEFS
Lock me up!
One man may be facing criminal charges after a bizarre incident took place in Fort St. James over the weekend of Feb. 2. While RCMP were investigating a suspected impaired driver, the suspect’s brother began calling and insisting to be placed with his brother in custody. The man then came to the detachment, again insisting he be put with his brother in custody. When RCMP refused to take the man into custody, he announced to RCMP he was in the possession of drugs, for which the RCMP then took him into custody and searched him, finding no drugs in his possession. The man then reportedly resisted arrest, and one RCMP member sustained a sprained thumb in the incident. RCMP are now recommending charges of resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer and causing a disturbance against the man. The man was allegedly under the influence at the time, and was placed in lockup, separately from his brother.
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VOL. 35 NO. 51 $1.34 inc. GST
Poker Ride
Despite having a lower snow pack thank normal, the Fort St. James Poker Ride once again saw sledders out for a day of riding the 70 km trail loop maintained by the local snowmobile club. More photos Page 12.
Ruth Lloyd/Caledonia Courier
Court finds fault Snowmobile accident with RCMP search Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier Marijuana-related charges against a Fort St. James man were dismissed after a Provincial Court judge ruled most of the evidence in the case inadmissible. Joseph Greco Ricardo Sordini was acquitted after Honourable Judge D.J. O’Byrne found the search the evidence in the case against him was based on was in violation of Sordini’s Charter rights. Sordini was facing charges of production of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. According to court documents, RCMP learned a woman serving a conditional sentence was staying with Sordini at his residence, and was subject to curfew checks. According to information put forward in the case, an RCMP member had been investigating Sordini’s activities since 2009, suspecting him of cultivating marijuana, but had not found any conclusive evidence by November of 2010. On Nov. 5, 2010, RCMP entered onto the property to conduct a check on the woman’s curfew for her conditional sentence. During the visit, the RCMP members received permission to look around at some oth-
er aspects of the property, and subsequently discovered some evidence of marijuana cultivation when an RCMP member moved something on the floor with his foot, uncovering “shake” marijuana under some landscaping fabric. The constables then arrested Sordini as well as two women on the property at the time. The judge ruled, however, the case was based on evidence obtained through a “warrantless search” due to the constable using his foot to uncover the evidence and was therefore a violation of Section Eight of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms which provides freedom from unlawful search and seizure. “In my view, these searches constituted serious state misconduct,” said O’Byrne in his ruling. The judge also called the arrests of the two women at the residence “egregious.” “Those arrests are totally without any legal justification and they further demonstrate the absolute flagrant disregard by the police for the Charter rights and freedoms of anybody at the Sordini residence that evening,” he said. A warrant was later obtained to search the outbuildings, however the address of the search was misspelled, using Pinchie Road instead of Pinchi Lake Road, which the judge saw as further indication of a “lack of care and attention to detail” required for a valid search warrant.
prompts RCMP warning
Ruth Lloyd Caledonia Courier
Fort St. James RCMP responded to a snowmobile accident on Sunday, Feb. 10 at 2:25 p.m.. The single snowmobile accident took place near the Fireweed Safe Haven on Stuart Drive, and when police arrived at the scene, they found the male driver of the snowmobile beside his machine showing signs of intoxication. The driver reportedly said the sled tipped sideways while he and a
female passenger were going up a hill and the machine then landed on him. Emergency Health Services then transported the driver to hospital for treatment of injuries to his ribs. The passenger was not injured in the incident. The RCMP are continuing to investigate, and are reminding the public a person can be charged with impaired driving and having a blood alcohol level over 0.08 mg when driving a snowmobile.