A retired Trail RCMP officer testified Friday that her efforts to secure video surveillance related to an alleged assault in a downtown alley were met with “resistance” from at least three businesses.
Sherri Karn, who was working for the detachment at the time of the incident in 2023, appeared on the witness stand during a voir dire at the trial of Greg Ferraby, a firefighter with Kootenay Boundary Regional Fire Rescue.
The trial-within-a-trial concerns a Charter of Rights application brought by the defence over the way police obtained or preserved video evidence.
Ferraby is charged with assault causing bodily harm and uttering threats against Darryl Wong, who said he was attacked by three men and left with severe injuries. Wong was homeless at the time.
Vista Radio is not naming the businesses that Karn identified because they haven’t been given an opportunity to respond to her testimony.
Karn testified she went to a local restaurant after Ferraby told her he had been there on the night of the incident for a birthday party.
She said she spoke with the managers, who told her their video surveillance system didn’t always work. Karn said the reply seemed “a bit off to me and didn’t make any sense.”
She testified the restaurant’s video was held by a third-party security company and was routinely deleted after a week. By that time, it was five days after the incident.
Karn added the restaurant managers “were uncomfortable with me being there asking for this footage.” She said they initially offered to provide the video, but only after the seven-day window expired.
Karn said the security company subsequently delivered some footage from the restaurant, but “huge portions” were missing. While Karn said she had requested interior and exterior footage from 4 p.m. until beyond closing, police were provided with only short interior clips.
“We had a conversation at the detachment about how unfortunately we felt it was an intentional choice not to provide footage requested in order to protect those in the video,” Karn said.
Karn also said she canvassed other businesses for footage. She said one business allowed her to view its video surveillance, which she recorded with her cellphone. She said the images showed three men walking, whom she identified as Greg Ferraby, Wesley Parsons, and Richard Morris.
Charges against Parsons and Morris were stayed shortly before the trial began.
Karn said she was told her request for the footage would have to go through the business’ managers or owners and be forwarded to a security company. Karn said she understood the business’ footage was also retained for seven days, but the security company later phoned to apologize that they no longer had any of the video.
Karn testified she did receive footage from one business, which showed three men walking through the alley behind the Arlington Hotel. The footage has been played in court several times during the trial.
Karn said she went to the security company directly and told them she was meeting “resistance,” but didn’t say exactly where it was coming from.
In her testimony, she said she felt the businesses’ reluctance was due to the suspects being “three very well respected men in our community, family men who volunteer, firefighters who put their lives on the job,” combined with a “volatile relationship” between the community and its homeless population.
She said there was “exhaustion from the community dealing with any person of vulnerability. The community had spoken up quite a bit, very angry and frustrated with what was unfolding.”
She said the operator of the security firm, while trying to preserve client confidentiality, told her he wasn’t surprised some businesses didn’t want to release their footage. Karn said she was hoping the company would save the footage in case police needed to secure it by subpoena.
Karn said she was told another business may also have footage that would expire in 24 hours. She said she contacted one of the owners immediately.
“He acknowledged he was aware of the situation and [the video] captured a portion of what took place,” she testified. However, she said he told her he was out of town and couldn’t help. Karn said she replied that the RCMP would pay the security firm to retrieve the video, but the man declined, saying he wasn’t willing to help.
“He felt that he was tired of the homeless situation,” Karn said, adding she was given the number of someone else to contact at the business, but she wasn’t able to speak to her.
Karn also said she talked to a woman at the La Nina shelter who had been on duty the night of the incident, but when asked to make a police statement, she “aggressively declined. She said she’d been warned by many people in the community that she’d better not provide a statement in any capacity.”
Karn said she was “very frustrated due to all the obstacles I had run into with members of the community in providing their surveillance.” Asked how that compared to other cases, she replied: “In 11 years I’ve policed in Trail, I’ve never met with resistance.”
Karn was asked if she considered using “more police powers” to obtain the video. She said RCMP discussed seeking subpoenas. However, she said she was removed from the file at her request, partly because she had several major files at the time and felt overwhelmed, and also because she had social relationships outside of work with many of the people involved, so felt it was better if someone else followed through. A different constable was assigned to write the warrant. Karn said she didn’t know what happened afterward.
Karn was also asked if anyone approached or confronted her about her part in the investigation.
“Quite a bit,” she answered, adding that the case came up when she went into a hair salon while off duty. She said a clerk “chastised” her for being involved and commented that “Mr. Wong deserved the assault.”
She also said a neighbour who was a firefighter refused to speak to her.
“I definitely lost some friendships over the situation,” she said. “I was tasked to do a job and I did the job.”
Asked how it made her feel, she replied: “Not very good. It was very hard for the whole community.”
Defence calls accused’s brother
Earlier in the day, the Crown rested its case and the defence called one witness: Ferraby’s brother George, who lives in Grande Cache, Alta.
George Ferraby testified that he has two daughters, neither of whom have ever been to Trail. He added that Greg Ferraby has no other nieces.
Earlier in the trial, Wong testified that Ferraby approached him on the Esplanade 10 days before he was assaulted and accused him of following Ferraby’s niece and her mother, which Wong denied. He also said Ferraby threatened him at the time.
It’s not clear when closing arguments in the case will be heard.
(CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story stated that it was unclear why Karn was removed from the file.)
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