Latest news with #Nanaimo
CTV News
18 hours ago
- CTV News
Police seek Nanaimo robbery suspect who wore white cloth wrapped around face
Mounties in Nanaimo are asking the public for help identifying a robbery suspect caught on camera early Wednesday morning. (Nanaimo RCMP) Mounties in Nanaimo are asking the public for help identifying a robbery suspect caught on camera early Wednesday morning. The man in the surveillance photos is believed to have robbed the Gas N Go at 2199 Trans Canada Hwy., near the intersection of Morden Road and Highway 1 around 3:40 a.m., Nanaimo RCMP said in a news release Thursday. According to police, the suspect 'walked into the business brandishing a knife.' An employee handed over 'an undisclosed amount of cash and merchandise,' and the man fled, police added. Mounties described the suspect as a man with 'a thin build' who stands 5′10″ to 6′ tall. 'Based on the pictures provided, he is believed to be in his late teens or early 20s,' the release reads. 'During the robbery, the individual wore a blue T-shirt, dark pants, striped runners, black ball cap and dark rimmed glasses. His face was partially concealed with a white cloth wrapped around it.' Anyone who has information about the robbery or saw anything suspicious before or after it is asked to call the Nanaimo RCMP non-emergency line at 250-754-2345. Investigators are also looking for dash cam video recorded in the area between 3:30 and 4 a.m. Wednesday, police said.
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
B.C. man who pushed girlfriend to her death off cliff gets sentence reduced
A man who killed his girlfriend by pushing her off a cliff in Nanaimo, B.C., has had his sentence reduced on appeal. The court heard Kyle Ordway had been in a relationship with Amy Watts for years when he shoved her down an approximately 15-metre rockface to her death in May 2021. Ordway told friends they had been fighting at the time. He later pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to four years behind bars – but appealed the punishment because of how the judge calculated his credit for time served, which went against a joint submission from the Crown and defence. In a decision issued last week, a three-justice panel at the B.C. Court of Appeal found in Ordway's favour. 'The Crown agrees the judge erred as alleged. Respectfully, so do I,' said Chief Justice Leonard Marchand, in the panel's reasons. Recalculated for a federal sentence The Crown and defence submitted that Ordway should serve a four-year sentence, and be credited at a rate of 1.5:1 for the time he'd already spent in custody. The court heard Ordway, who was 40 years old at sentencing, had a difficult childhood, and began using drugs at an early age. While the judge said she accepted the joint submission, she also credited Ordway at a reduced rate of 1.435:1. Doing so meant he would end up with two years plus a day remaining – long enough for a federal sentence. The judge considered the fact that Ordway and Watts were intimate partners, and that the killer had not sought help after pushing her off the cliff, as aggravating factors. 'She concluded a two-year sentence in a federal institution would meet the public interest,' Marchand said. 'No basis' to stray from joint submission While judges are not bound by joint submissions, the Court of Appeal noted there is a 'stringent' test for rejecting them – and found Ordway's judge failed to meet that bar in her reasons. 'On a proper application of the public interest test, there was no basis to reduce the jointly proposed credit for Mr. Ordway's pre-sentence custody,' Marchand said. 'Simply put, the proposed credit for pre-sentence custody would not have brought the administration of justice into disrepute.' The panel pointed out the proposed credit and granted credit were 'very close,' at 729 days versus 762 days. The Court of Appeal decreased Ordway's sentence in accordance with the joint submission. Since it began on Oct. 28, 2024, the updated sentence will end in September 2026.
CTV News
2 days ago
- CTV News
Woman struck, killed on highway near Nanaimo, B.C.
An RCMP patch is seen on the shoulder of an assistant commissioner in Surrey, B.C., on Friday, April 28, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck Mounties are investigating after a woman was struck and killed while crossing a highway near Nanaimo, B.C. A statement Wednesday from the Nanaimo RCMP says first responders were called to the scene on Highway 19, just south of the Morden Road intersection, at approximately 10:30 p.m. Monday. The woman received emergency first-aid at the scene but succumbed to her injuries, police said. Investigators believe the woman was trying to cross over a barrier separating the northbound and southbound lanes of the highway when she was struck by a northbound vehicle. Drugs and alcohol are not believed to have contributed to the crash, police said. The driver remained on scene and is co-operating with the police investigation, according to the statement. Traffic was diverted from the area for approximately four hours while collision investigators examined the scene. 'The vehicle involved was towed from the scene and will undergo a mechanical inspection,' the statement said. 'Police and the B.C. Coroners Service are continuing with their investigations.'
CBC
12-06-2025
- CBC
B.C. man sentenced after arson at home of Ukrainian priest
A Nanaimo, B.C., man has been sentenced to three and a half years in prison after an arson attack at an Ukrainian priest's home in Victoria. The fire in the 1100-block of Caledonia Avenue on April 20, 2022, threatened the family of Father Yuriy Vyshnevskyy, the parish priest at the Ukrainian Catholic Church of St. Nicholas, located next door. Now, Walter (Theo) Machinski has been sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of arson with disregard for human life. He was known to the family, Victoria police said, but the incident was "not motivated by hatred towards an identifiable group." Machinski was arrested in April 2023, according to police, who say the home targeted by the arson attack remains uninhabitable to this day. "The bravery of the family and the swift response of our officers and Victoria firefighters prevented a tragedy," read a statement from Victoria acting deputy chief Michael Brown. Three girls had to be lowered by their mother out of the second-floor window to their father and two bystanders waiting below, Dan Atkinson, acting chief of the Victoria Fire Department said at the time. The mother then had to be rescued by firefighters with the help of a ladder. Vyshnevskyy said in April 2022 that his wife woke up around 1 a.m. PT on the night of the fire after hearing noises. She assumed it was one of her children walking around the house, then realized the sounds were coming from the front porch. "The next thing she heard was the sound of ... emptying the bottle and the smell of gasoline," he said. "Someone was pouring [it] inside the house through the mail slot." "She yelled, she called me and said, 'Yuriy, get up, someone's pouring this into the house' ... Up until that point, there was no fire." But almost immediately after he was alerted to the gasoline, Vyshnevskyy said, someone started a fire which spread "really quickly." By the time he got downstairs, the front room was already ablaze. As smoke filled the house, he said he had to abandon his plans to put out the fire himself, and then escaped through the back door. Outside, he saw his wife and children through the upstairs window, gasping for air. His neighbour then helped encourage the stranded children to jump — their only safe way out of the house. "They trusted us and and they were brave," Vyshnevskyy said. Following the fire, Atkinson praised the parents for their quick thinking. "It's really an incredible story and a testament to both the parents of the children to ensure their safety by closing doors behind them to help prevent rapid fire spread into the areas where they were," he said. "It certainly could have been much worse."
CBC
11-06-2025
- Sport
- CBC
Katzberg captures 5th straight hammer throw win of season, topping 80 metres in Norway
Social Sharing Ethan Katzberg wasn't a model of consistency Wednesday, but he only needed one throw to win his fifth consecutive men's hammer throw competition to start the 2025 season. The reigning world and Olympic champion from Nanaimo, B.C., was the lone athlete in the field of seven to surpass 80 metres, throwing 80.19 in his third of six attempts at the Bislett Games Diamond League track and field meet in Oslo, Norway. Katzberg, 23, came close to the 81.92 meet record by 36-year-old Wojciech Nowicki of Poland who was seventh (72.65) on a mostly sunny Wednesday at Bislett Stadium, where the temperature reached 17 C. "I think I had a good result, maybe could have [had] a little more," said Katzberg. "I have been over here in Europe for a while now, so this is my last competition here and I am returning home." Katzberg, who was third in Oslo two years ago, arrived at the stadium Wednesday fresh off an 80.15 performance at the June 3 Trond Mohn Games in Norway. On May 31, the world's top-ranked men's hammer thrower was victorious at the Kip Keino Classic in Nairobi, Kenya, delivering a season-best and world-leading 82.73. Canada's Katzberg captures World Athletics Continental Tour hammer throw victory 11 days ago Duration 0:46 Ukraine's Mykhalo Kokhan made is a close competition Wednesday with a 79.95 final throw for second, after the Canadian's 79.74 effort. "I managed to throw almost 80 metres, but still, I was missing that five centimetres and it is only 79, so I cannot be super satisfied with my result," Kokhan said after his fifth event of the season. "I had to start the sixth attempt faster and it was a right decision. 'All-or-nothing day' Hometown favourite Thomas Mardal fouled four times but began his day with a personal-best throw of 78.25 to place third. "Today was an all-or-nothing kind of day," he said. "I have been consistently throwing over 77 metres this season, so I have been looking for 78 and I love throwing at Bislett [Stadium]. "It was special for me as I had my dad and wife here. At the end of the month I hope to represent Norway at the European Team Champs and after that it is all eyes on Tokyo [and the Sept. 13-21 worlds]." Hammer throw is not contested regularly on the Diamond League professional circuit, so athletes do not accumulate points toward qualifying for the Diamond League Final in late August. Katzberg admitted to feeling "a little drained" but still worked hard for a good result. "Technically, it could have been a little more today," he said, "but it is what it is and I am going home to prepare for the rest of the season." Katzberg opened Wednesday at 76.17 and then fouled before eclipsing 80 metres. He threw 77.33 on his fourth attempt and hasn't thrown 76- and 77-low since early in the 2023 campaign. Katzberg also fouled on his fifth try. Last August in Paris, Katzberg became Canada's first Olympic hammer throw champion and earned the country's first medal in the event since 1912. At 22, he was the youngest-ever Summer Games hammer gold medallist. His winning throw of 84.12 was 26 cm short of the national and area (North and Central America and Caribbean) mark of 84.38 he hit in April 2024 at a meet in Nairobi. A year earlier, Katzberg was the first Canadian to win a world title in hammer throw, a few days ahead of teammate Camryn Rogers's victory in the women's event in Budapest, Hungary. Next for Katzberg is the July 5 Prefontaine Classic in Eugene, Ore.
