Charges dropped against BC mayor over sexual assault allegations
UPDATE: On June 22, 2023, BC Prosecution Service said that Special Prosecutor Brock
Martland KC has directed a stay of proceedings of the single charge of sexual assault previously approved on October 13, 2022.
The former mayor of BC’s third-largest city, Kelowna, is facing a sexual assault charge.
In a statement to the media on Wednesday, December 7, the BC Prosecution Service (BCPS) announced that they had appointed a special prosecutor in relation to a sexual assault allegation.
The assault is alleged to have happened in Kelowna in May 2022, and the suspect is Colin Basran, who was the sitting mayor of Kelowna at the time.
The special prosecutor was appointed to avoid “any potential for real or perceived improper influence in the administration of justice considering the nature of the allegations and the identity of the accused as an elected municipal official,” said the BCPS.
Kelowna RCMP Investigative Services Department did the investigation, and findings were independently reviewed by the Nelson Police Department before they went to Crown counsel.
Brock Martland, a senior Vancouver lawyer in private practice, was appointed to the case. He was asked to provide legal advice to the RCMP investigators as necessary and assume the conduct of the prosecution if charges were approved.
And he’s approved one charge of sexual assault contrary to section 271 of the Criminal Code against Basran.
Now, the matter is before the courts and the RCMP and BCPS are not expected to give further details.
Basran’s first court date is set for January 24, 2023, in Kelowna Provincial Court.
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