Accused to challenge investigation

The lawyer representing a Penticton woman in a high-profile animal cruelty case will challenge the way the investigation was conducted.

Joelle Mbamy, a pharmacist and zumba instructor in Penticton, is charged with the Criminal Code offences of causing unnecessary pain or suffering to an animal and neglecting an animal, which carry a maximum penalty of a $10,000 fine and 18 months in jail.

She’s also charged with causing an animal to be in continued distress, which is an offence under the B.C. Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act and carries with it a maximum penalty of a $75,000 fine and two years in jail.

In a pretrial conference Friday, her lawyer, Julian Vanderwalle, said he will introduce “the manner of the search of the premise” in a voir dire when the case goes to trial.

Voir dires are held to consider whether evidence can be submitted in the trial.

Crown counsel Alexandra Janse of Kamloops, who specializes in animal cruelty cases, plans on calling three witnesses — an investigator with the BC SPCA and two veterinarians. Vanderwalle expects to call his own client plus one other witness, with the possibility of a veterinarian as a third.

The offences are alleged to have occurred Jan. 18, five days before the BC SPCA seized three small dogs from the backyard of her home on Scott Avenue following calls from neighbours concerned about the animals’ welfare.

Mbamy was not in the courtroom on Friday.

The trial is expected to last two days. A date for trial will be selected on June 7.