B.C. Views Curing a community cash crunch. p6
‘Old friends’ struck down by lightning. p3
THE NEWS
Arts&life Celebrate Craft! at gallery. p18
www.mapleridgenews.com Wednesday, September 11, 2013 · Serving Maple Ridge & Pitt Meadows · est. 1978 · 604-467-1122 · Delivery: 604-466-6397
Trial begins for driver who killed Pitt couple by M on i sh a M ar ti n s staff reporter
Stormrider A Mountie in the RCMP Musical Ride looks up at the stormy sky just before its performance at the Albion Fairgrounds on Thursday, when thunder and lightning rumbled through Metro Vancouver. Three horses were killed in Maple Ridge. See related story, p3. Colleen Flanagan/THE NEWS
The trial for a driver charged with killing a young couple in Pitt Meadows three years ago began Monday with the defence highlighting poor lighting and confusing signage on Lougheed Highway as factors that contributed to the horrific crash. Rebecca ‘Beckie’ Dyer, 19, and her boyfriend, Johnny De Oliveira, 21, were killed around midnight Oct. 19. 2010, when a Toyota driven by Andelina Hecimovic skidded sideways over a concrete median, flipped over and landed on top of their Suzuki Swift. The couple, returning home from a Justin Beiber concert, died instantly. Hecimovic, now 26, walked away with minor injuries. She is facing two counts of dangerous driving causing death. See Trial, p3
‘Paranoia’ prompted hostess kidnapping Ian Campbell was high on crack cocaine when he abducted girl, 17: lawyer by M oni s ha M ar tin s staff reporter
A man who kidnapped a young waitress from a Maple Ridge mall at gun point in January blamed crack cocaine for fueling his crime spree during a sentencing hearing Monday in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court.
Ian James William Campbell smoked cocaine all day when he abducted the 17-year-old hostess from Westgate Centre on Jan. 19. Her identity is now protected by a publication ban. It’s the only explanation for his bizarre behaviour, Campbell’s lawyer, Sandy Ross, told Judge Garth Smith. Campbell, 25, has pleaded guilty to four of seven criminal charges, including using an imitation firearm, assault causing bodily harm, unlawful confinement and theft. The 25-year-old has been in custody since he was arrested in Van-
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couver Jan. 22 by members of the Vancouver Police Department’s Emergency Response Team and Ridge Meadows RCMP’s Street Enforcement Unit. His arrest came after a public appeal by police for tips in the violent abduction. The ordeal for the teen began around 8 p.m. Jan. 19, when Campbell approached her outside the Fox’s Reach Pub during a work break. The court heard Campbell told the teen he needed help to start his broken down Cadillac sedan. The girl went to help him. But
when Campbell got into her car, he pulled out what she believed was a gun. He yelled: “If you don’t cooperate, I will blow your ... brains out.” He then forced her to drive out of the mall in her red 1993 Honda Civic to a secluded area on Blackstock Street, where he punched and strangled her repeatedly. Campbell also tied the teen’s hands with a dog leash and smashed her cell phone when he Monisha Martins/THE NEWS discovered it in her jacket. Badly beaten, the teen still man- The young woman and her family leave Port Coquitlam Provincial Court on aged to fight Campbell off. See Kidnapping, p5 Monday.
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