More than two-dozen people filled the gallery of a small Kamloops courtroom on Wednesday as the preliminary inquiry began for a man charged with murder in connection with a 2016 slaying in North Kamloops.
David James Bond, 29, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the Dec. 30, 2016, death of 42-year-old Sean Dunn.
Dunn was found unconscious near the side of the road on Wood Street near Tranquille Road. Emergency crews were unable to revive him.
Investigators said at the time they believe the deadly altercation stemmed from an argument inside a nearby bar.
Dunn was charged in June 2017 with second-degree murder and later released on bail.
Bond wore a white dress shirt and sat with family in the first row of the courtroom on Wednesday. Dunn’s friends and family filled three rows on the other side of the room.
The first Crown witness at the preliminary inquiry was a forensic pathologist who described in detail the cause of Dunn’s death. During her testimony, she was asked by Kamloops provincial court Judge Stephen Harrison not to raise in the air a book of graphic autopsy photos.
Preliminary inquiries are hearings at which a judge determines whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed to trial. Evidence presented at preliminary inquiries is bound by a court-ordered ban on publication.
Bond’s preliminary inquiry is scheduled to conclude on Thursday.
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