A police services dog helped RCMP hunt down a suspect in the Aberdeen area of Kamloops, June 20, 2014.
(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
December 07, 2015 - 5:15 PM
KAMLOOPS - A Penticton man who paid two teenagers to drive him and a trunk full of guns to the Fraser Valley before being chased throughout Kamloops’ Aberdeen neighbourhood won’t be out of jail until late next year after receiving his sentence today, Dec. 7.
Nicolas Stephen Galbraith, 29, was supposed to have his trial begin today in Kamloops Supreme Court, but instead pleaded guilty to possessing a restricted firearm with ammunition.
On June 20, 2014, Galbraith and two youths were en route to Kamloops after Galbraith paid them both $1,000 cash to drive him from Bonnyville, Alta to the Fraser Valley. The two co-accused in this case cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Galbraith was a passenger in the 1998 Dodge Stratus the trio drove erratically through Kamloops. Police started investigating the car a little closer after several drivers on Highway 1 reported the car and the driver's behaviour near the Peterson Creek Bridge.
Crown prosecutor Catriona Elliott said police saw the car, but didn’t pursue a high speed chase. Rather, the officer called backup and soon the vehicle was surrounded. Elliott said the vehicle took off at a high speed and drove through the Dufferin and Pineview neighbourhoods before the trio parked the car in the Verona complex on Versatile Drive which is now home to Cascades Casino.
Elliott says the group crossed the road to a nearby restaurant and police caught Galbraith when he attempted to hop a fence nearby. Officers also found a draw string bag which held a 40-calibre restricted Glock stolen in Saskatchewan and a 50-shot magazine. In the trunk of the car, investigators found 12 stolen long guns.
Both Elliott and Galbraith’s lawyer, Jay Michi, both requested Justice Dev Dley sentence Galbraith to 30 months in prison. Dley accepted the proposed sentence and ordered Galbraith to submit a DNA sample into the national registry. Galbraith is prohibited from owning guns for the next ten years.
With time served, he’s expected to be released in approximately 10 months.
A trial in youth court is still pending for one of the co-accused.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
News from © iNFOnews, 2015