As members of the aboriginal community raised their voices in unison outside the Penticton courthouse Thursday, the two people charged in connection with the death of Roxanne Louie stayed quiet.
Grace Elinor Robotti, 65, and her brother, Pier Louis Robotti, 61, said nothing as they looked on from the prisoners’ dock during a four-minute hearing in provincial court in Penticton that resulted in them remaining behind bars pending a possible bail hearing.
Grace is charged with the second-degree murder of Louie, a 26-year-old member of the Osoyoos Indian Band, while Pier is accused of interfering with human remains and being an accessory after the fact.
Pier, who is bald with a handlebar moustache, wore a dark sweater and pants and looked around the courtroom, but didn’t say anything. Grace, seated beside him, wore an orange sweater and dark pants and kept her head down throughout.
Both agreed through their lawyers to a two-week remand while awaiting more information about the cases against them.
“We have no details yet. It’s a big investigation,” said defence co-counsel Bob Maxwell.
After the hearing, Maxwell told the standing-room-only public gallery that both the lawyers and their clients acknowledge Louie’s death was a loss to the community.
Following a six-day missing-person investigation, Louie’s body was discovered Jan. 12 in the woods near Chute Lake about 40 minutes from Penticton, according to a family spokesperson.
Laurie Wilson said it’s still unclear where Louie died, since the timeline of her final movements was initially provided by Grace, and because things found near the victim’s body have confused the matter.
“There was quite a bit of evidence that something happened there (in the woods) that was taken care of by the family and no pictures were allowed of it,” said Wilson.
She also clarified that Grace was the grandmother-in-law of Louie, not mother-in-law as was previously reported, and asked the public to continue providing police with anything that might help the investigation.
Wilson believes comments made during the missing-person phase of the investigation by Louie’s father and police that suggested Louie may have disappeared to go partying actually marginalized the victim and “cut the impetus and urgency to find her.”
To bring Louie’s case into better focus, her family and friends staged a rally outside the courthouse “basically to demand justice,” Wilson said. “That’s not something that aboriginal women can expect.”
Most of the demonstrators then moved inside for the Robottis’ appearance.
Neither of the accused was expected to be in court, but were compelled to appear by Judge Greg Koturbash.
“In my opinion, there would be a strong disengagement between the community and the court process if the accused were not required to appear by video or in person on a charge of this nature,” he explained.
Wilson suspects the relationship between Louie and her son’s father wasn’t the “smoothest,” and hopes details about the Robottis’ relationship with Louie will come out in court.
“There are people who say things about the state of their relationship and how Roxanne felt nervous about what they would do to her and stuff like that, but those are assumptions and rumours and hopefully the police will work very hard about getting that information out of her family and friends,” she said.
Louie’s three-year-old son is now with other grandparents, added Wilson, who expects the family to be out in force at subsequent court appearances.
“This is the nature of this family,” she said. “You don’t do anything to the Halls or the Louies without the rest of them getting involved.”
A wake for Louie is planned for Friday at 7 p.m. at the Osoyoos Indian Band community hall. A funeral will follow Saturday at 11 a.m.
-With files from Mark Brett
