Reena Virk’s killer says a miniseries based on the high-profile 1997 murder in Victoria is disrespectful and will re-victimize her family. A parole board decision says Kelly Ellard – who changed her name to Kerry Sim – expressed remorse and victim empathy when discussing the show “Under the Bridge” with her case management team. The decision says Sim is striving to lead a pro-social life raising her two kids as a single mother, and high living costs, lack of child care and being required to live in a community facility are sources of frustration and anxiety.
The First Nations Leadership Council says it’s appalled by the decision not to charge the police officers involved in the July 2021 shooting death of Jared Lowndes in Campbell River. The council says it’s shocked at the news that the BC Prosecution Service declined to lay charges against the trio of Mounties after the Independent Investigations Office found the officers may have committed offences during the deadly encounter. Lowndes was shot and killed after fleeing from officers in a vehicle, confronted at a Campbell River drive-thru where he bear sprayed officers and stabbed a police dog to death.
White Rock RCMP Staff Sergeant Rob Dixon says two stabbings in the city within a few days and with apparent similarities are alarming. Dixon says police are now working to determine whether or not there is a “conclusive link” between the attacks, but is assuring the public he would not change his behaviour or prevent his mother from walking in the area as normal. The latest attack happened Tuesday when a man was fatally stabbed, and followed a similar knife attack on Sunday, but left the victim with non-life-threatening injuries. Police say the description in both attacks is a Black male, five-feet-11-inches tall, who was wearing a hat and a grey hoodie.
The BC SPCA says an emaciated, starving dog is now recovering in a foster home, thanks to help from a Good Samaritan. The society says a man found the dachshund while driving his truck to mountain bike trails in Kelowna and saw a light reflecting off something down an embankment. The SPCA says it turned out to be a pet carrier and the man later found the dog covered in feces and urine with its collar looped through the carrier’s door.
The Yukon Government says it’s almost done installing solar panels and energy storage systems at a pair of off-grid highway maintenance camps. The government says the Klondike and Ogilvie camps along the Dempster Highway will use solar power and reduce fuel use and greenhouse gas emissions. The territory says the camps play a crucial role in keeping the territory’s rural highways in good shape, and reducing their reliance on diesel will lower emissions by 270 tonnes each year.
A Canadian couple living in the UK say they’ve been enjoying the spotlight after a trip to Scotland where they snapped a photo of what they believe was the famed Loch Ness Monster. Parry Malm and his wife Shannon say he uploaded the photo of a shadowy figure in the water near Urquhart Castle to an official online sightings registry, and was soon contacted about the Nessie sighting. The couple says their photo and their story have now been given the UK tabloid treatment, and the Official Loch Ness Monster Sightings Register says it’s the first Nessie sighting of 2024.