The man charged in the 2014 murder of Christopher Ausman will face a trial, following the outcome of a preliminary inquiry.
Steven Randy Pirko was charged with the second-degree murder of Ausman on Nov. 18, 2016.
Ausman鈥檚 body was discovered lying on the sidewalk along Highway 33 in the early hours of Jan. 25, 2014.
Family members and friends of Ausman cried and hugged outside of the courtroom, following the verdict. They declined to comment at this time.
鈥淔rom the early on-set of this investigation there were key factors to suggest that Christopher鈥檚 death was suspicious in nature, as such the 麻豆精选 RCMP Serious Crime Unit (SCU) assumed conduct of the investigation into his death,鈥� said Cpl. Jesse O鈥橠onaghey, in a press release issued at the time of the incident.
Pirko has had other charges brought against him in the past. He was also sentenced to nine months in prison in June for unrelated charges after pleading guilty to two counts of break and enter and another charge of possession of stolen property.
鈥淚鈥檓 sorry for my actions,鈥� Pirko told the court via the video feed from the Okanagan Correction Centre, where he鈥檚 been held since his November 2016 arrest.
鈥淚 wouldn鈥檛 have done these things if I wasn鈥檛 addicted to heroin 鈥� I鈥檓 trying to make the best of a crappy situation.鈥�
Pirko will appear in Supreme Court on Feb. 5. It is unclear at this time if the trial will be by judge alone or judge and jury.
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