Travis Storoschuk appeared in Williams Lake court in person for a bail hearing on Dec. 10, and will remain in custody for now.
The Williams Lake man has been in custody since mid-November after breaching bail conditions. In what could be described as an educational day in court, Storoschuk was held in cells as delay after delay pushed his appearance down the list.
Jeff Maxwell, Storoschuk's attorney, attending court remotely from Kamloops, did not seem to be aware his client would be appearing in person, leading to some minor confusion. But the presiding judge had other matters on her list to attend to remotely for Quesnel court, so Maxwell said he would call his client to confer while she attended those.
Another criminal matter was then heard by the court, which also included delays and then a break for lunch had Storoschuk set to begin his bail proceedings at 1:45 p.m.
Storoschuk was eventually escorted into the courtroom by sheriffs around 2 p.m.
Dressed in a bright red prison sweatshirt and pants, Storoschuk shuffled through the lobby with both his hands and his feet in cuffs, his brown hair and face shaved but stubbly.
Court began with the doors locked, as Maxwell discussed his application for his client's release, and the details of his requests were inaudible through the courtroom door until a Crown attorney knocked and spectators were allowed in.
Storoschuk sat in the prisoner's box, holding pages covered in hand-written notes in his hands.
Maxwell named a person willing to act as a surety for Storoschuk, which means he would sign for and be responsible for Storoschuk if Storoschuk was granted release.
However, as the person was unknown to the court, he would need to appear to provide surety. Unfortunately for both the person providing the surety and Storoschuk, when contacted to come in to appear, the person told Maxwell his truck had broken down, keeping him from court and further delaying forward momentum in the proceedings.
Another point of discussion was the possibility of fitting Storoschuk with a GPS ankle bracelet, the process for which had to be clarified, and Maxwell agreed to apply for a technical suitability report, which, through probation officers, would assess whether the location Storoschuk applied to be released to would work to support this technology.
In the end, the bail hearing did not go any further than this, as they ran out of time to hear the arguments from Crown and defence. Due to the nature and number of files against Storoschuk, which include multiple breaches of undertakings on previous releases, assault and firearms-related charges, he and his lawyer are under a reverse onus.
This means instead of the Crown having to show Storoschuk should remain in custody, which is usually the case, instead Storoschuk and his attorney must convince the court he should be released.
Crown asserted the bail proceedings would require more than two hours to complete, so a new hearing date would need to be set.
Storoschuk remains in custody, and will appear via video on Dec. 18 to fix a court date for his bail proceedings to go ahead. It appeared likely his new bail hearing would not be able to take place before the new year.
