Kelowna

Family members of slain Armstrong teen Taylor van Diest embraced each other in a BC Supreme Court Thursday afternoon following a ruling denying bail to her accused.

Justice Beames rejected Matthew Stephen Foerster’s application for bail as well as a change of venue in the murder case of Taylor van Diest on Halloween night in 2011.

Foerster, who waived his right to a preliminary hearing, will stand trial in BC Supreme Court for a duration of about six weeks.

The trial date has not yet been set.

Foerster had applied to change the trial venue to Vancouver or New Westminster, arguing that he would not receive a fair trial in Kelowna or Kamloops.

At the beginning of the bail hearing Thursday morning, Justice Beames issued a publication ban on the proceedings. Due to the ban, the media cannot report the details of the hearing.

Foerster faces a first-degree murder charge of van Diest, with a maximum sentence of life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 25 years. He also faces one count of sexual assault and unlawful confinement of a Kelowna escort worker in April 12, 2005 and an assault on a Cherryville woman in 2004.