Hope Standard Thursday, January 8, 2015 A11
News
Prosecutors shift stance on vulnerable witnesses Change flows from handling of Pickton escapee
Jeff Nagel Black Press
B.C.’s Crown prosecutors are revising how they deal with vulnerable victims and witnesses to crime in response to the 2012 Missing Women Inquiry findings that their mishandling of one woman may have let serial killer Robert Pickton extend his murder spree for years. A prostitute barely escaped alive from his Port Coquitlam farm after a bloody knife fight with Pickton in 1997 but charges of attempted murder against him were dropped a year
later, in part because Crown decided the drug-addicted woman was unable to credibly testify. Inquiry commissioner Wally Oppal recommended changes in Crown procedures and suggested in his report that better support for the woman and preparation by prosecutors to deal with her might have gleaned more information from her and got the case to trial. At least a dozen women went missing from Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside between the 1997 attack and Pickton’s 2002 arrest, includ-
ing the six women he was eventually convicted of killing. The province’s Criminal Justice Branch unveiled a new tailored policy Tuesday to deal with vulnerable victims and witnesses, recognizing that, in cases involving serious injury, they require ongoing support throughout the prosecution. The policy highlights various best practices, including early identification of witnesses needing support and seeking appropriate 2014
protective conditions as part of any bail order. “Crown counsel should keep in mind that vulnerable victims and witnesses may be particularly subject to pressure, intimidation and interference,” the policy says, adding Crown should try to determine why they’re reluctant to testify and develop strategies to address the issues. Vulnerable witnesses are defined as ones where there’s a reasonable likelihood that their effective par-
ticipation in the justice system “will be significantly diminished, or eliminated, if accommodations or supports are not made available.” It says people in the sex trade, as well as aboriginals, may be particularly vulnerable. But witnesses may be vulnerable due to various other factors, including addiction, homelessness, mental illness, advanced age, a history of being abused, precarious legal status or ethnic, religious or cultural perspectives.
BLACK PRESS FILE PHOTO
Missing Women Inquiry Commissioner Wally Oppal at the December 2012 release of his report Forsaken on how the justice system failed the victims of serial killer Robert Pickton.
19 Years In A Row!
Real estate gains strongest for detached homes in 2014 Jeff Nagel Black Press
Lower Mainland real estate prices recorded modest to strong gains in 2014, with detached houses generally rising faster than townhouses or condos. Year-end statistics released by the Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley real estate boards show benchmark detached houses on average gained 6.7 per cent over the past year. Those increases ranged from more than 10 per cent in Vancouver, Tsawwassen and Burnaby to less than five per cent in West Vancouver, Maple Ridge, Pitt Meadows, Port Coquitlam, Langley, Abbotsford, Mission and parts of Surrey. The increases pushed the benchmark price of houses above $1 million for the first time in Burnaby and for the Greater Vancouver area as a whole. Benchmark house prices across the Fraser Valley area, which includes Surrey, White Rock and North Delta, ended the year at $573,100. Benchmark prices show the shifts of a typical property and exclude the most expensive ones that can skew average prices much higher. Price increases were more muted for townhouses and condos across the region. Townhouses or attached homes averaged a 2.6 per cent gain across the Lower Mainland, with the strongest gains of more than seven per cent recorded in Maple Ridge, North Delta, Squamish and Vancouver’s west side. Benchmark townhouse prices were $293,500 in the Fraser Valley and $476,000 in Greater Vancouver. Condo prices dropped in value in several areas in 2014, with the Fraser Valley benchmark down 0.8 per cent and the biggest drops of nearly 10 per cent in Maple Ridge and North Surrey. Greater Vancouver condos gained 3.5 per cent on average. Benchmark condo prices ended the year at $191,100 for the Fraser Valley and $380,700 for Greater Vancouver. The December 2014 statistics provided by realtor associations are different from the just-released home assessments, which are conducted by BC Assessment and are intended to provide a valuation snapshot as of each July 1. See the interactive charts on The Hope Standard website to compare price changes by community over as much as five years.
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