The trial of a Surrey woman facing charges in connection with the alleged defrauding of a White Rock company has once again been postponed.
Proceedings against Karen Ann Chura are now set for five days next spring – April 25-28 and May 2 – following an appearance in Surrey Provincial Court Oct. 20.
Chura was arrested in February 2013.
At that time, police alleged a 53-year-old Clayton resident wrote cheques to herself from a company account, but with no associated invoices. Charges of fraud, forgery and using forged cheques were announced.
In the years since, trial dates have been set at least three times, including for September 2014, August 2015 and November 2015. A fourth criminal charge – of theft over $5,000 – was added earlier this year.
According to Crown, the delays were due to various applications by the defense.
“Specifically, on Oct. 1, Ms. Chura changed her defense counsel, and new counsel was unavailable for the dates in November,” prosecutor Richard Li explained by email, noting that Crown had opposed the application.
Li said the addition of the fourth charge was not a result of new evidence, but was sworn following a review of the file, to “more fully reflect all the factual and legal allegations… on this matter.”
A pre-trial conference is to take place Feb. 5.
