New lawyer in trial for Kelowna Canada Day killing

The trial of two men charged in a fatal Canada Day attack in Kelowna will resume in July with a new Crown lawyer in place.

Crown counsel Colin Forsyth has taken over the prosecution of Nathan Truant and Noah Vaten, who are charged with manslaughter in the death of Esa Carriere on July 1, 2018. The original Crown was Martin Nadon, but in March, the B.C. Provincial Court appointed him as a new judge. The trial has been on hiatus since mid-March and is expected to resume in June.

One of the youths charged in the case pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced on Jan. 15 to a 15-month Intensive Support and Supervision order. The other youth goes to trial on Sept. 9.

By that point, Vaten and Truant's cases should have wrapped up. Nadon presented all of his evidence and it relied upon witnesses, DNA, CCTV footage from cameras across the city, as well as RCMP testimony as evidence that Vaten and Truant were among a group of people who fatally injured Carriere after chasing him down.

“At the end of the chase, which was near the rear of the Highway 97 bus stop, Carriere was either tripped or fell to the ground, and was then attacked by members of the group,” Nadon said as the trial got underway.

“He was punched and kicked while he was on the ground. During the attack, Mr. Carriere was stabbed once in the chest and it turned out to be fatal.”

As the trial carried on, the judge also viewed a jailhouse confession from Vaten, where he said he remembered realizing he stabbed Carriere just once, and feeling instantly regretful. That statement is being challenged by the defence on the grounds it wasn't voluntary and breached Vaten's charter right to a lawyer.

Carrier was 23 years old when he was killed. He had recently relocated to Kelowna from Mississauga, Ontario.

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