Suspect in couple’s disappearance beaten in jail: lawyer
EVANSBURG — The lawyer for a man suspected by the RCMP in the disappearance of an Edmonton-area couple last year argues that his client has been beaten by jail guards.
Daniel Mol says Travis Vader has also been improperly placed in solitary confinement at the Edmonton Remand Centre and that guards have stolen documents related to his case and given them to police.
Mol’s accusations came during a court appearance for Vader in Evansburg, Alta., Monday on charges unrelated to last July’s disappearance of Lyle and Marie McCann during a trip to British Columbia.
The defence lawyer says he’s seeking to have drug possession and firearms offences against his client dropped because Vader’s basic civil and human rights have been violated.
Vader will return to an Evansburg courtroom for trial on Dec. 12, at which time Mol’s constitutional challenge will be heard.
Cockpit chatter considered a factor in plane crash last fall
EDMONTON — Equipment failure and unnecessary chatter between the pilot and co-pilot are being cited as contributing factors in an Alberta plane crash last fall that killed one of the air crew.
Andrew Donald Fielding, a 31-year-old pilot from Lethbridge died when a Kenn Borek Air flight out of Edmonton went down near Kirby Lake, about 400 kilometres northeast of the city.
Nine other people aboard the Beechcraft plane survived when it crashed near the small community’s airport last October.
A Transportation Safety Board report into the tragedy says a stall warning horn did not sound before the plane went out of control, but investigators could not say why it didn’t work.
The report also says there was non-essential conversation between the pilot and co-pilot as they tried to visually find the Kirby Lake runway in less-than-ideal weather conditions.
