A judge’s decision on whether Jonathan Billyboy was the suspect driving a stolen vehicle erratically in the city last fall won’t be known until mid-November.
Justice Joel Groves is expected to make his decision on Nov. 10 as to whether Billyboy was, beyond reasonable doubt, the person driving the stolen Dodge Neon, which had crashed into a sign pole on Fifth Avenue, at the bottom of Carson last October.
On Tuesday, Crown counsel Sabena Thompson and defence attorney Alfred Kaiser provided their closing statements in Supreme Court in Williams Lake.
Thompson argued Billyboy was the one who fled the Neon on Fifth Avenue after crashing the vehicle, while Kaiser said there is not enough evidence to prove Billyboy was the one behind the wheel.
Witnesses had testified they had seen a person wearing blue jeans and a dark hoodie flee the vehicle and jump over a fence by a residence on Fifth Avenue.
RCMP members attended the scene and found Billyboy in the basement of a nearby residence.
Thompson cited testimony from officers about their location at and near the scene where the accused was arrested.
“The house was surrounded,” Thompson said. “The only place to go was in.”
Kaiser said none of the witnesses could positively identify the accused as being the one behind the wheel or fleeing the vehicle on Fifth Avenue.
“This whole case is about identity,” he said, adding that the RCMP didn’t adequately search the bushes behind the home, through where, he argued, the real culprit could have escaped.
Billyboy faces charges of robbery, flight from a peace officer, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, assault, and willfully resisting or obstructing the peace.
