Brian Beresh made the statement while cross-examining the primary investigator in the murder case against Vader during a hearing to determine if the prosecution abused the judicial process by delaying his trial. The hearing has previously heard that massive problems with the RCMP’s disclosure of evidence led to the two-year delay.
"Mr. Vader was the victim of an ineffective system that collapsed, isn’t that right?" Beresh asked RCMP Sgt Frederick Jané. "The system failed him, pure and simple."
Jané stopped short of agreeing that Vader had been victimized by the RCMP’s mistakes in disclosing evidence. "There were significant disclosure problems on this file," he said.
Vader, 43, faces murder charges in the deaths of Lyle McCann, 78, and his wife, Marie, 77. The St. Albert couple was last seen on July 3, 2010, buying gas before they headed toward British Columbia. Two days later, their burning motorhome was found near an Edson-area campground. Their bodies have never been found.
Vader’s previously scheduled trial was derailed on March 29, 2014, when prosecutors stayed the murder charges because of the RCMP’s lack of disclosure. Later that year, they lifted the stay and Vader faced the murder charges once more.
Vader now wants a Court of Queen’s Bench judge to stay the charges a second time and halt the prosecution.
Before Vader’s murder charges were stayed in 2014, the prosecution offered Vader their consent to his release on bail if he would agree to simply adjourn the trial to a later date. Vader declined. That showed, Beresh said, that Vader trusted he would receive a fair trial.
The hearing has previously heard the prosecution blames the RCMP for the two-year delay in Vader’s trial.
Vader is now scheduled to go to trial in March 2016.
