Kelowna man accused of killing date in 2023 heads to preliminary inquiry next year

A Kelowna, B.C., man accused of killing the woman he was dating last summer is scheduled for a preliminary inquiry next year.

Brandon Davina, 38, who is charged with the second-degree murder of Brianna Jankauskas on Aug. 21, 2023, will have a three-day preliminary inquiry held in the Kelowna Law Courts Jan. 13, 2025.  It will be preceded by another pretrial conference on Nov. 29.

A preliminary inquiry is held to determine whether the evidence assembled by the Crown against an accused person is sufficient to proceed with a trial.

The homicide investigation started Aug. 21, 2023, when Mounties were called to a Hardie Road home in Kelowna’s Rutland neighbourhood to help with a woman suffering from life-threatening injuries.

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Jankauskas later succumbed to those injuries. Davina was then arrested and charged with manslaughter. Weeks later the charge was raised to second-degree murder.

Friends of Jankauskas confirmed that she and Davina had only recently started dating.

Davina has already been charged with assault with a weapon and mischief from another Kelowna domestic file that dates back to February 2022.

The maximum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no parole for 10 years.