Tyler Jack Newton’s recent release from police custody is being called a “catch and release horror story” by an opposition MLA from Vancouver.

Image Credit: SUBMITTED/West Kelowna RCMP

A Kelowna killer’s recent release from police custody is being called a “catch and release horror story” by an opposition MLA from Vancouver.

“Every day there is another catch-and-release horror story. Tyler Newton is a violent, prolific offender,” West Vancouver-Capilano MLA Karin Kirkpatrick told the legislature, Oct. 24. “This is a dangerous, high-risk criminal currently facing charges for aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.”

In the past, he blatantly disregarded release conditions but “shockingly,” he was released this past weekend and is currently out in the community, the Liberal MLA said.

Newton was sentenced to four and a half years in prison for the unprovoked murder of Caesar Rosales while travelling on a Kelowna transit bus in 2014. In 2019, he was granted statutory release from prison but ran afoul of the conditions set out for him by the Parole Board of Canada and his freedom was suspended.

READ MORE: Kelowna transit killer back behind bars after breaching parole conditions

This month, a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest for charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and using an imitation firearm in relation to an incident occurring in December, 2021.

“There was no attempt by this government to keep him in custody, a complete indictment of the incoming soft-on-crime premier’s broken system,” Kirkpatrick said. “Why was Tyler Newton’s right to re-offend more important to this NDP government than the right of the community to be safe?”

Attorney General Murray Rankin responded by saying the government is taking concrete steps to address the issue.

There are “unintended consequences” of the 2019 Bail Act which the NDP is working with federal partners to address the issues as well as working with local governments, he told the legislature.

Kirkpatrick said that answer isn’t good enough, as Newton has 51 prior convictions and is described in parole documents as someone as “high risk and high needs offender who has not mitigated that risk.”

“We commissioned an independent report that made 28 recommendations, those recommendations are being examined very closely to see if we can come up with a comprehensive response,” Rankin said, adding a re-offenders program has been reinstated.

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