KAMLOOPS, B.C. — Weapons and drug-related charges have been dismissed against a couple after a British Columbia judge ruled an RCMP officer who conducted a search was "deceptive and manipulative."
Eric Noble and Rox-Ann Haines were found with two sawed-off guns and a small amount of drugs in a van at a Kamloops motel in July 2015.
Noble was charged with possession of prohibited weapons and possession of drugs and Haines was charged with possession of a martial-arts weapon.
Justice Hope Hyslop had already ruled that admitting the guns and drugs as evidence after an illegal search that violated the couple's charter rights would bring the administration of justice into disrepute.
She dismissed the charges Tuesday after the Crown indicated it had no other evidence to proceed to trial.
Noble had been in custody for almost a year since the arrest, and was released after the decision.
The arrest came three hours after Mounties pursued a man who allegedly escaped a reported domestic incident about 30 minutes west of Kamloops on Highway 1.
The suspect was driving a tan Chevy Venture minivan without licence plates.
The vehicle searched by police on the east end of Kamloops was a blue Ford minivan with plates. The arresting officer testified he believed the Ford could be the same tan Chevy sought by police in the earlier incident in Savona.
“Const. (Kris) Reinburg ignored all known facts of the Savona investigation, pushed aside evidence of fellow officers and deliberately breached Mr. Noble’s and Ms. Haines’ rights,” Hyslop said in her ruling.
Hyslop said she was “regretful to conclude” that police neglected to photograph the exterior of the blue Ford minivan for use as evidence in court because they knew it did not resemble the tan Chevy.
“Const. Reinburg’s evidence is not capable of belief,” she concluded.
Reinburg testified he believed RCMP dispatch reported the licence-plate number was unknown. In fact, a dispatcher told pursuing Mounties that the van had no plate.
