Kuijer appears in court
With his head down and his eyes locked on the floor, Justin Kuijer made his first appearance in a St. Catharines courtroom Thursday morning.
Supporters of Kuijer, who faces a first-degree murder charge in connection to the death of his seven-yearold stepson and attempted murder in connection to the stabbing of an RBC employee, broke down in tears during the short Ontario Court of Justice hearing.
Because Kuijer faces a murder charge, he is not automatically eligible for bail.
“As a general rule, when someone is charged with murder, the onus is on them to bring an application in the Superior Court for bail,” said Scott Reid, Kuijer’s lawyer, speaking to reporters outside the courthouse.
Reid said it was too early to say if Kuijer will attempt to secure a bail hearing.
The judge imposed a publication ban on any evidence discussed during the hearing.
Kuijer, 43, was arrested Tuesday in the parking lot of a Kenora, Ont., Walmart after a five-day manhunt.
Last Friday, Niagara Regional Police said, a man entered the RBC on Martindale Road at about 10:30 a.m. and stabbed a female employee before driving off in a grey van. Police said the victim was known to her attacker, but will not disclose the motive behind the stabbing. Police said the attack was neither an attempted bank robbery nor a domestic assault.
About 15 minutes before the first 911 call from the bank, NRP officers were called to an apartment at 173 Queenston St. where seven-yearold Nathan Dumas’s mother found the boy critically wounded.
Whitney Dumas said she had recently broke up with Kuijer. When she arrived at the apartment he met her at the front door with his bags packed and was ready to leave, she said. Dumas asked Kuijer to come inside so they could discuss arrangements for their three kids, Nathan, his four-year-old brother and baby sister. She said Kuijer asked for the keys to her van to go and buy a coffee first.
After he left, Dumas went inside where she found her son.
Police were unable to locate Kuijer over the weekend and on Monday Canada-wide warrants for attempted murder and second-degree murder were issued for him.
During a Wednesday press briefing, Niagara police Chief Jeff McGuire said a Kenora resident recognized the van Kuijer was driving from news reports and called police.
“The media have been exemplary partners with us in this manhunt. Keeping the face of Kuijer on the front pages, on the newscasts, on all the live media streams, social media; it is because of those efforts that Kuijer is in custody today,” McGuire said. “Two thousand kilometres and five days later a normal citizen was able to act on information (the news media) assisted us in sharing right across the country.”
The homicide charge against Kuijer was upgraded to first-degree murder when he was arrested.
Ontario Provincial Police flew Kuijer from Kenora to an airport north of Barrie, where NRP officers picked him up and drove him to Niagara Wednesday night.
During Thursday’s court hearing, Kuijer, unshaven and wearing a baggy, orange prison jumpsuit, did not look up when asked questions by the judge. He spoke so quietly that his lawyer had to repeat Kuijer’s answer for the court.
A small group of supporters attended court, and several of them broke down during the hearing. They ran from a gauntlet of television reporters outside the courthouse without comment.
Kuijer is scheduled to make his next court appearance by video on April 19.