A B.C. Provincial Court judge has reserved decision on the interim release of a Vernon man charged with manslaughter.
Shaun Ross Wiebe has been in custody since being arrested in January 2021, in connection with the death of 37-year-old Heather Barker, a woman whom the court record alleges was his intimate partner.
Barker was taken to hospital in March of 2018 after being found unresponsive in a home on Cordon Place in the Rise neighbourhood of Vernon, according to police.
Police said hospital staff notified them about the mother of three’s life-threatening injures, which claimed her life days later.
The 43-year-old is also facing a second charge that alleges he assaulted Barker and caused her bodily harm the month before her death.
Wiebe, a Vernon pharmacist whose licence was revoked in 2019, lost his ability to practice due to evidence that he suffered from substance addiction that made him unfit to do his job, according to the B.C. College of Pharmacists.
The B.C. Prosecution Service (BCPS) confirms a decision on whether Wiebe will be released on bail will be handed down on April 26.
No date has been set for a trial, according to the BCPS.