Image Credit: Jessica Wallace
August 22, 2013 - 4:26 PM
KAMLOOPS - A Kamloops man facing mischief and assault charges over a confrontation with a local bus driver says he's well-prepared to defend himself.
Bradley Derek Smith was charged after posting a video to YouTube in December accusing a local public city bus driver of kidnapping him. The driver was suspended pending an investigation. But the video back-fired. The driver was reinstated and Smith is the one facing charges.
Now his trial is underway with a continuation date in the works.
"This is not going to be a pretty trial," Smith said. "There's no question whatsoever that what I was accused of was false."
He promised local media outside the courtroom today that they would be 'shocked' after the trial, but he would not provide any evidence he will present.
"My defence is prepared. It's a really solid defence, I think you are going to be really shocked. It's going to be a really big story once court is done."
He said he's spent $6,000 on lawyers, yet he's representing himself.
"My trial was supposed to be a five-hour trial. The prosecutor thought he could walk in and walk all over me," he said,. "The prosecutor presented no actual evidence… I started to present my evidence, now my trial is a two-day trial. It's not even about (me)."
He accused B.C. Transit and First Canada of performing 'damage control' for the bus driver in the video.
"(I have) absolutely no legal experience whatsoever," he said. "I'm a rather bright individual, and when people tell lies, it's easy to call them on it... I'm not a pushover."
He said he plans to leave Kamloops, where he has lived for five years, after the trial.
"My name has been slandered, I don't plan to stay in Kamloops," he said. "I'll sell my house."
"I have a future ahead of me in law and politics," he said. "It just ruined my name."
To contact a reporter for this story, email: jwallace@infotelnews.ca, call: (250) 319-7494 or tweet: @jess__wallace.
News from © iNFOnews, 2013