Chan to return to court in Newmarket
LINDSAY -- A young man accused of fatally stabbing his father and critically injuring his father’s common-law spouse in late 2015 will return to a Newmarket courtroom July 4 after appearing in Lindsay Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday. Thomas Chan, 20, is charged with second-degree murder in the Dec. 28, 2015 death of city gastroenterologist Dr. Andrew Chan as well as attempted murder for allegedly trying to kill his dad’s partner, Lynn Witteveen.
Court staff indicated Tuesday that trial dates were expected to be scheduled in the matter on Wednesday, but they were not – the adjournment is for continuing judicial pre-trial, a hearing that generally aims to resolve legal issues before a trial begins.
A 10-day preliminary hearing began May 1 in Peterborough Ontario Court of Justice before Madame Justice Esther Rosenberg, who then ordered the case to trial in a judgment delivered May 15.
Assistant Crown attorney Andrew Midwood is prosecuting the matter. Chan is being represented by co-counsel, city lawyers Dave McFadden and Joleen Hiland.
Thomas Chan was released on $400,000 bail on April 27, 2016 in Newmarket after making about 10 court appearances via video from Lindsay’s Central East Correctional Centre.
He was charged after city police were called by a neighbour to a disturbance at his father’s west-end home on Haggis Dr. at about 3:37 a.m. While en route seven minutes later, police got another call from “an involved party” telling them there had been a stabbing, police said.
Officers arrived to find the 50-yearold doctor dead and the injured then50-year-old woman, whose name was not released by police.
Witteveen, who was airlifted to a Toronto hospital, was released from an intensive care unit and moved into a rehabilitation centre before coming home about a year ago.
She is also suing Thomas Chan and Andrew Chan’s ex-wife Rosalia Vastano for $3.95 million for negligence.
Court documents filed on Sept. 19, 2016 argue that Vastano had a duty to warn Witteveen and Dr. Chan of an imminently dangerous situation - but she didn’t.