Man pleads guilty in West Kelowna shooting

A West Kelowna man has pleaded guilty in a 2016 shooting and will be sentenced by a provincial court judge.

On Dec. 2, 2016, West Kelowna RCMP responded to a report of a shooting inside a home in the 3600 block of Grenada Crescent at 12:35 p.m.

The victim was taken to the hospital with serious, non-life threatening injuries.

Police arrested a 59-year-old man and a 33-year-old man, both from West Kelowna.

The 59-year-old man was identified as Charles Maskell.

Police also uncovered evidence suggesting the home was being used in the trafficking of illicit drugs.

Maskell was charged with attempted murder, unlawfully discharging a firearm, possessing a loaded prohibited or restricted firearm without a licence, possession of a firearm without a licence and aggravated assault.

On Dec. 14, 2016, Maskell was granted bail.

He was later arrested again after breaching the conditions of his release and was charged with three counts of assault with a weapon, theft under $5,000 and possession of a controlled substance.

A trial before a judge and jury was scheduled to begin Monday in B.C. Supreme Court, but on Sept. 11, defence and Crown applied to file a notice of re-election to move the trial to provincial court to be tried by judge alone.

The re-election was confirmed in court Monday.

Maskell, who is in custody at Okanagan Correctional Centre near Oliver, appeared in court Monday wearing a red inmate outfit, with glasses, short grey hair and a grey beard.

He pleaded guilty to possessing a loaded prohibited or restricted weapon without a licence and to assault with a weapon, specifically bear spray.

He pleaded not guilty to aggravated assault, and instead pleaded guilty to assault causing bodily harm.

“These matters will be fairly lengthy in sentencing,” defence lawyer Paul McMurray said in court.

He requested a pre-sentence report be ordered with a psychiatric component.

“These are serious incidents, and Mr. Maskell is a man we believe may have issues with early onset dementia, which will obviously impact sentencing,” said McMurray.

Maskell’s next scheduled appearance is Nov. 5, to confirm whether or not the pre-sentence report is ready and to book a date for sentencing.