Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
National

Crown Says Man Should Be Convicted Of Girl's Murder Based On Alleged Confession

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 23 Oct, 2018 12:20 AM
    VANCOUVER — A man charged with murdering a 12-year-girl in British Columbia over 40 years ago should be found guilty after confessing to undercover police that he abducted, sexually assaulted and killed her, a Crown attorney says.
     
     
    Mark Sheardown told jurors in his opening statement Monday that Garry Handlen also took RCMP undercover officers to the crime scene and provided details about snatching the girl while she was riding her new bike near Merritt, in the province's Interior.
     
     
    He said Handlen's "truthful, reliable confession," which the jury will watch on video, will demonstrate he is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in the death of Monica Jack on May 6, 1978.
     
     
    Sheardown said Jack's mother saw her riding her bike as the woman was heading home in her vehicle, a few days before the girl's 13th birthday.
     
     
    "Monica was offered a ride home but turned it down," he said, adding Madeline Lanaro never saw her daughter again.
     
     
    Handlen, who sat in B.C. Supreme Court wearing a grey and black plaid shirt and listened to proceedings wearing headphones, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder.
     
     
    Sheardown said 17 years after the girl disappeared, Jack's skull and some bones were found by a crew doing work for the Forests Ministry. The remains were linked to her through dental records.
     
     
    Handlen was living in Minden, Ont., when he became the focus of an undercover police operation starting in May 2014.
     
     
    Sheardown said Handlen allegedly provided a supposed crime boss with details of the murder, saying "he grabbed her, took her in his camper, went up a hill and had sex with her, in Mr. Handlen's words, and killed her by strangling her."
     
     
    Handlen then accompanied three officers, who he thought were members of a crime group, to Merritt, Sheardown told the jury as Jack's sister and other family members sat in the courtroom.
     
     
    "Together, the three officers and Mr. Handlen drove out to the Merritt area where Mr. Handlen attempted to find the area where he abducted Monica Jack," Sheardown said of the girl who lived on the Quilchena Indian Reserve with her mother and siblings.
     
     
    "This took place over the course of two days," he said, adding Handlen provided more details about the abduction and murder during that time.
     
     
    Four witnesses gave police statements about what they saw in the area where the girl was last seen near a pullout on Highway 5A, he said.
     
     
    "Collectively, the Crown expects these four statements will indicate that a truck and camper had stopped at the pullout right around the time Monica was passing through the area, a bicycle was seen almost directly across the road from the camper, that a sound of someone crying out was heard and that it was thought to be a girl because of the high pitch."
     
     
    Jack's brother went looking for her and spotted her bike, court heard, before their mother reported the girl missing.
     
     
    Handlen worked for the supposed crime group as a debt collector, loan shark and repossessed personal property such as all-terrain vehicles, Sheardown said.
     
     
    A former undercover officer who posed as the crime boss told court he met Handlen at a restaurant in Orillia, Ont., on May 22, 2014.
     
     
    He said Handlen talked about his childhood on a farm, being a handyman in Ontario's cottage country and his work as a pipefitter in the Toronto area, which he'd left for Minden, as well as his supervisory job in Alberta's oil sands for several years.
     
     
    Handlen was arrested in November 2014.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    IHIT Seeks Help In Solving Homicide Of SUMEET RANDHAWA In Surrey, Surveillance Video Released

    Surrey: The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team continues to work closely with its partners to advance the homicide investigation of 30-year-old Sumeet Randhawa and is requesting public assistance.

    IHIT Seeks Help In Solving Homicide Of SUMEET RANDHAWA In Surrey, Surveillance Video Released

    Op-Ed: PR Referendum - Secret, Misleading & Manipulative Process of NDP-Green Coalition

    Op-Ed: PR Referendum - Secret, Misleading & Manipulative Process of NDP-Green Coalition
    A democratic way of holding referendum should have been at the time of municipal elections, which would have guaranteed higher voter turn-out and lower costs. 

    Op-Ed: PR Referendum - Secret, Misleading & Manipulative Process of NDP-Green Coalition

    WATCH: Ontario To Allow Sikhs To Ride Motorcycles Without Helmets From Oct. 18

    Ontario will soon allow turban-wearing Sikhs to ride motorcycles without helmets, joining three other provinces in providing the exemption.

    WATCH: Ontario To Allow Sikhs To Ride Motorcycles Without Helmets From Oct. 18

    Half Of Canadian Homeowners Say Cannabis Use Will Hurt Property Values: Poll

    Half Of Canadian Homeowners Say Cannabis Use Will Hurt Property Values: Poll
    TORONTO — More than half of Canadian homeowners recently surveyed say they would be less likely to consider a property if they knew cannabis had been grown inside, according to a poll released Tuesday.

    Half Of Canadian Homeowners Say Cannabis Use Will Hurt Property Values: Poll

    Canada Open To Growing Trade With China Now That USMCA Is A Done Deal: PM Trudeau

    TORONTO — Canada is open to doing more business with China now that a trading agreement with the United States and Mexico has been finalized, says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

    Canada Open To Growing Trade With China Now That USMCA Is A Done Deal: PM Trudeau

    Parents, Not Just Government, Will Talk To Their Kids About Pot, Trudeau Says

    OTTAWA — With just hours to go before pot is legal in Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says parents will play a role in talking to their kids about the drug.

    Parents, Not Just Government, Will Talk To Their Kids About Pot, Trudeau Says