The Surrey Six murder trial in Vancouver is now scheduled to resume Monday morning, after reconvening briefly Wednesday afternoon while lawyers discussed a significant turn in the case and an associated publication ban that prohibits media from reporting on it.
The trial of three accused murderers was adjourned suddenly Monday after a major development was announced – the contents of which were not reportable due to an interim publication ban imposed by Justice Catherine Wedge, which still stood as of Wednesday. There is a possibility the ban could be partially lifted in coming days.
Cody Haevischer, Matthew Johnston and Michael Le are being tried for first-degree murder and conspiracy in connection with the Oct. 19, 2007 mass murder of six men in the Balmoral Tower apartment building in North Surrey.
They are accused of killing alleged drug dealers Edward Narong, Ryan Bartolomeo, and brothers Corey and Michael Lal, and bystanders Edward Schellenberg and Christopher Mohan.
Nov. 25 was to be the first day of testimony from one of the Crown's main witnesses, who can only be identified as K.M. due to a separate publication ban.
Several family members of the victims attended court Monday, and Christopher Mohan's mom Eileen spoke briefly to media afterwards, saying she agreed with the publication ban in the pursuit of justice.
Mohan has attended court virtually every day since the trial began in early October. She said she'd likely have more to say after the trial fully resumes.
The trial is expected to last up to a year. Jamie Bacon is also charged in the murder of Corey Lal, but will be tried at a later date.
The Crown's theory is that Bacon and Le were the leaders of the Red Scorpion gang and ordered the murder of Corey Lal because he was operating on their drug trafficking turf. The others, it's alleged, were killed to eliminate any witnesses.