LAWSUIT SEEKS COP’S RECORDS The RCMP disciplinary records, in-house complaints and transfer requests of a former Kelowna RCMP officer facing multiple civil suits and criminal charges could come out in court. Brian Burkett was charged with seven counts of breach of trust last summer, for incidents dating back to 2015, while he was an active member of […]
FORMER COP HIT WITH 3RD SUIT A former Kelowna RCMP officer facing charges for allegedly sexually harassing several women has been named in a new civil lawsuit, alleging he harassed a woman on Vancouver Island prior to his transfer to the Okanagan. It’s the third lawsuit to make similar allegations against Brian Mathew Burkett, who […]
A South Okanagan man who fired shots into the ceiling of his basement suite in response to voices inside his head, nearly hitting his upstairs neighbour in the process, will be released today on time already served. Daniel Khafizov, 31, was sentenced to 18 months in prison Tuesday — exactly how much pre-sentence credit (worth 1.5 […]
DRAMATIC CHASE ENDS IN JAIL Continuing a habit of granting firm sentences to those that run from the police, a Penticton judge Monday handed a South Okanagan man 18 months in prison for a pursuit that ended in a dramatic takedown on Highway 3 east of Osoyoos. Bryce Williamson, 31, appeared in provincial court Monday for […]
SUED OVER FOSTER ASSAULTS The province is in the crosshairs of yet another lawsuit after a developmentally disabled teen was repeatedly sexually assaulted by her foster parent back in the early 2000s. The suit, filed in Kelowna court last week, alleges the Ministry of Children and Family Development, along with the director of child welfare, failed to […]
SAUNDERS, MCFD SUED AGAIN A former Kelowna social worker has been accused of stealing from yet another vulnerable Indigenous youth who was in his care. Lawyer Michael Patterson has filed multiple suits against Robert Riley Saunders, the Ministry of Children and Family Development and Interior Savings on behalf of several clients over the past year, all alleging Saunders […]
Another lawsuit filed this week against the provincial government is alleging abuse within the B.C. foster system. In a civil claim filed this week in B.C. Supreme Court, an adult woman is alleging she was sexually assaulted by her foster parent. Castanet News is not naming the plaintiff, because had this been a criminal case, her […]
When Eve Drysdale recounts her childhood in B.C.’s foster care system, it is the stuff of nightmares. “I was in a state of constant fear. I never knew what she was going to do. You never knew when she was going to snap … it was a game of cat and mouse, and you never […]
New allegations are being levelled at the Ministry of Children and Family Development in the Okanagan — this time, against the foster care system. In a pair of lawsuits filed last week in B.C. Supreme Court, two former youth-in-care allege the foster care system set them up for a life of addiction and crime. Bree-Anne Buhler, […]
An Indigenous West Kelowna woman who was interrogated after claiming she was sexually assaulted, hopes justice will be served by suing the RCMP officer who interviewed her. The woman, who is now 24, is suing Cpl. Kenneth Hall, the Attorney General of Canada and B.C. Minister of Justice after a shocking video of the police […]
