Phone records seized in manslaughter case
Investigation continues into house party death as pre-trial date looms
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, April 2, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The RCMP has seized phone records from Bell Canada in its investigation into a death at a Frame Lake South house party last summer.
Roman Bourque, 23, was charged with manslaughter on Aug. 30, five days after Emerson Curran, 21, died as a result of head injuries in an Edmonton hospital.
Witnesses from the Aug. 24 party said Bourque and Curran got into a fight in the house, which ended in Bourque raining blows on Curran. Curran was eventually knocked unconscious. Some witnesses allege Bourque continued to punch Curran after he was down.
RCMP believe Bourque left the party shortly after the incident.
None of the allegations against Bourque have been proven in court.
Curran, originally from Ottawa, was in Yellowknife for the summer working for Air Tindi as a dock hand.
According to court documents, RCMP were trying
to access Bourque's cellphone (which they seized after arresting him on Aug. 30) to read text messages from the night of the party last fall.
RCMP believed Bourque received messages about the incident after leaving the party - specifically, someone telling him to go to the police.
The police were unable to unlock his cellphone and sought a warrant to seize his home computer on Nov. 4, hoping it would help them access the phone.
According to documents relating to the seizure of the computer, RCMP canvassed Northwestel and Bell at the time to see if either kept records of text messages. Both companies indicated they did not.
But, according to a recently released court document, RCMP seized phone records from Bell Canada on March 17 in relation to the case.
The seized records remain sealed to the public, on court order.
Bourque is next set to appear in court Aug. 18 for a preliminary hearing, where the Crown will present its evidence to the court in the hopes of securing a trial.
