Photo: RCMP

Stewart Wayne Tkachuk

The trial of two Okanagan men facing numerous serious charges carried on in a Vernon Supreme Court Friday without one of the accused.

Defence lawyer for Edward Scott Coghill and Crown Counsel made final arguments in the 10-day long trial that saw several delays, but once again co-accused Stewart Wayne Tkachuk was absent from the proceedings.

The trial was held without Tkachuk who Justice John Gibb-Carsley said was considered to have “deliberately absconded” from his own trial.

When the trial was set to begin Feb. 21, court heard how Tkachuk's electronic monitoring bracelet was found on a Vernon road and appears to have been cut off.

The trial began the next day and a warrant for his arrest was issued, but as of April 19 he remains at large.

RCMP did not respond to a request for comment on Tkachuk.

Gibb-Carsley deferred his decision on the case until later this year. The matter will be back in court June 3 where a date will be set for Gibb-Carsley's decision.

Coghill and Tkachuk are facing numerous charges stemming from an alleged robbery on Dure Meadow Rd. on Sept. 18, 2019.

According to the BC Prosecution Service the two men are charged with the following eight offences:

• breaking and entering a dwelling house and committing robbery therein
• robbery with a firearm
• discharging a firearm at two people with intent to wound, maim or disfigure them
• intentionally discharging a firearm into or at a place, knowing or being reckless as to whether another person was present, or while being reckless as to the life or safety of another person
• having their face masked with intent to commit an indictable offence
• unlawful confinement
• aggravated assault
• unlicensed possession of a firearm

Tkachuk is also charged with possessing a firearm while being prohibited from doing so and could face additional charges after not showing up for his trial.