Watch above: Murder trial witness handed two-and-a-half year sentence for contempt
SASKATOON – A convicted murderer has been found guilty of contempt of court for refusing to testify at the trial of three men accused in the murder of Isho Hana in 2004.
Neil Yakimchuk was called as the first Crown witness Monday in the murder trial of Jonathan Dombowsky, Kennith Tingle and Long Nam Luu.
Yakimchuk, who was found guilty earlier this year of the first-degree murder of Hana and is serving two life sentences for that murder and another in Alberta, refused to testify.
On Tuesday, the Judge Richard Danyliuk told Yakimchuk “considering your two first-degree murder sentences, the consequences of your contempt may not seem daunting to you.”
Danyliuk went on to say the “refusal of a witness to testify is an offence … as it affects citizens of Canada.”
He went on to point out that as a key witness, the refusal to testify has implications on the Crown’s case against the three other men accused of their involvement in Hana’s death.
Danyliuk handed Yakimchuk a two-and-a-half year sentence for contempt to be served concurrently to his two life sentences.
Yakimchuk testified during preliminary hearings in January 2013 and court is deciding whether those statements can be used as admissible evidence in the current trial.
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