The daughters of a Vancouver Island man killed by two escaped inmates say they’re grateful and relieved the men are being held accountable for the crime, but a guilty verdict won’t bring their father back. Jessica Payne says justice is an abstract concept for her and her sister, Calla, because what they want most is their father, Martin Payne. The 60-year old mail carrier — described by his daughters as compassionate and fun-loving — was killed in his home in July of 2019, the day after James Lee Busch and Zachary Armitage walked away from the William Head Institution, west of Victoria. A BC Supreme Court jury found Busch guilty of first-degree murder yesterday, while the jury had not been aware that Armitage had already pleaded guilty to the same charge midway through the month-long trial.
This fall’s unusually dry weather has resulted in record low water levels in some rivers on BC’s South Coast. BC Hydro says it has adjusted its operations in order to make sure there’s enough water flow downstream for fish habitat. The Crown utility says it will be able to keep up with power demands this winter because of its integrated systems. It says historic low water flows have been recorded in several smaller generating facilities in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island.
BC Premier David Eby says he hopes 90 “work camp” style housing units planned for two sites in Vancouver will help disperse tent encampments in the city by freeing up space in shelters. The City of Vancouver is providing the land, while the province is adding seven-million-dollars for the project to build modular housing with round-the-clock supports for people experiencing homelessness. Eby says the units will be offered to people already living in shelters, creating opportunities for people in encampments including those on Hastings Street and at CRAB park in the city’s Downtown Eastside. Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon says the prefabricated units near the Science World and Olympic Village SkyTrain stations will have staff on-site to connect residents with mental health and primary care, cultural programming and other supports.
A charge of second-degree murder has been laid against the nephew of a 68-year-old woman stabbed to death in her North Vancouver apartment. The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team says 46-year-old Anthony Del Rosario is accused of killing Dominga Santos. Police were called Tuesday morning to a report of a disturbance in an apartment building. They say first responders tried to save the woman but she died of her injuries.
Seven men face a total of more than two dozen drug charges after a two-year investigation by BC’s gang task force. The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit says the investigation that began in early 2020 led investigators to a large-scale drug-trafficking operation. The unit says the criminal group spanned the Lower Mainland to the Okanagan. Police say they used search warrants at a dozen locations and found 650 thousand in Canadian cash, weapons, body armour and a large variety of drugs, from cocaine to ketamine.
You might say there’s been a humpback heyday for the whales in the Salish Sea this year. The Canadian Pacific Humpback Collaboration says 396 of the whales have been spotted, marking the highest number counted in the area since researchers started keeping records. However, that has also created some problems for vessel traffic, and Lisa Spaven with the Fisheries Department says the Salish Sea has become the equivalent of a busy school zone. At least three humpbacks have been found dead along B-C beaches this fall, while another suffered a severe spinal injury because of a vessel strike, but still managed to make the trip to Hawaii.