Jeff Bell

1 week ago | castanet.net | Roxanne Egan-Elliott |Jeremy Hainsworth |Rochelle Baker |Jeff Bell

A boa constrictor that was on the loose after slithering away from Tofino’s Chesterman Beach on Sunday would have taken time while unsupervised to get away, says a snake owner who runs a party entertainment company with her reptiles. The two-metre boa constrictor named Bailey was found Wednesday “snoozing in the depths of his person’s kayak,” according to Coastal Animal Rescue and Education Network in Tofino.

2 weeks ago | castanet.net | Darren Handschuh |Sarah Crookall |Kathy Michaels |Jeff Bell

British Columbia's River Forecast Centre has issued a high streamflow advisories for a large swath of waterways in the province. The advisory covers Interior rivers and tributaries stretching as far north as the border with Alaska and south to the Canada-U.S. border and along part of the boundary with Alberta. Forecasters say rivers are expected to rise rapidly on Thursday and Friday because of rain, with high flows potentially extending through to Sunday.

2 weeks ago | castanet.net | Darren Handschuh |Sarah Crookall |Kathy Michaels |Jeff Bell

A man who pleaded guilty to setting fire to the home of the priest of St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church three years ago was sentenced Wednesday to three and a half years in prison. Walter (Theo) Machinski of Nanaimo had pleaded guilty to one count of arson with disregard for human life in setting the fire at the Caledonia Avenue home of Yuriy Vyshnevskyy and his family, located next door to the church.

2 weeks ago | castanet.net | Nicholas Johansen |Michael Potestio |Jeff Bell |Brenna Owen

Jeff Bell / Times Colonist - | Story: 555238Saanich police are looking for witnesses to an incident at a Tim Hortons where a senior is seen on a viral video throwing punches at a male youth who allegedly threw food at his wife. A video of the late-April incident at the coffee shop in Saanich Plaza attracted millions of views over the past few days, after it was posted online. In the footage, the senior hits the youth several times as he sits in a booth with three females.

3 weeks ago | castanet.net | Roxanne Egan-Elliott |Jeff Bell

A Victoria police officer who killed a woman when he shot her with plastic bullets during an incident at a supportive-housing facility is expected to learn next Thursday what sort of discipline he could face. Sgt. Ron Kirkwood was found to have committed misconduct in the Christmas Day 2019 incident by adjudicator Wally Oppal, a retired judge and former B.C. attorney general who oversaw a public hearing held by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner into the death.