Speeding SUV ‘caught my eye, trial hears
KELOWNA — Jamie Farquhar was on his way home from a job on Aug. 14, 2011 when he noticed an SUV approaching him rapidly in his rear-view mirror.
He was so concerned about how the occupants of the Ford were driving that he tried to memorize the time and the plate number so he could call police later, he testified in B.C. Supreme Court Monday.
Farquhar was one of a series of witnesses who testified about the vehicle that the Crown alleges was used by the killers of Jonathan Bacon to flee the Delta Grand hotel minutes after the fatal shooting.
Jujhar Khun-Khun, Jason McBride and Michael Jones are charged with killing Bacon, as well as attempting to kill four others with the Red Scorpion leader that day.
Farquhar described the vehicle he saw speeding near downtown Kelowna as a Ford SUV that had a paint colour that changed depending on the way the light was hitting it.
Farquhar said “there was certainly something not normal with that vehicle. It caught my eye.”
“Just noticing the way the vehicle was being driven, I could tell it was either by someone who was in a huge hurry or something else was going on,” Farquhar said.
He said the SUV paused briefly at a red light, “then blew through the red light with very fast acceleration.”
“I remember thinking whatever that vehicle is doing or whatever the people in that vehicle are doing, it seemed at least a little bit criminal in terms of the way they were driving, so I did take note of the licence plate,” he told Justice Allan Betton.
He said he saw the SUV turn onto Highland Drive, which he thought was unusual because it was a small residential neighbourhood with dead-end streets.
Crown prosecutor Dave Ruse said in his opening statement last week that the three firearms prosecutors believe were used in the shooting were later found in some bushes on Highland Drive.
Farquhar said he couldn’t get a good look at the occupants of the Ford SUV because of the tinted windows.
“They were wearing really dark clothes and hoodies,” he testified.
Terri Rae also saw a suspicious SUV racing down Clement Avenue that Sunday afternoon.
The dark-coloured SUV passed her and then did the same to the car in front of her, Rae testified.
“There were two kids that were just running across the street and I hit the horn,” she said. “He did slow down, missed the kids and then took off and kept driving in the oncoming lane.”
She said she also saw the SUV stop briefly at a red light before racing through it. “It swerved in and out of traffic dangerously,” Rae said.
Earlier Monday, Betton dismissed an application from the three accused killers to throw out the charges they face over the length of time the case has taken to get to trial. While Betton dismissed the application, he provided no reasons for doing so.
He said he was preparing detailed reasons that would be released later.
“It is my conclusion after much reflection and consideration ... that the application for a judicial stay on the basis of unreasonable delay must be in the circumstances of this case dismissed,” Betton said.
Lawyers for the three gang associates argued that their clients have been in custody since their arrest in February 2013 — more than four years before their trial began here last month.
Last summer, the Supreme Court ruled that criminal trials at the Supreme Court level should be done within 30 months unless there are “exceptional circumstances.”
The trial continues.