Mon. July 10 - 4 years since Metchosin escape & murder

Good morning !

This weekend marked four years since the escape and killing that shocked Metchosin. Capital Daily later obtained documents showing how the seemingly random event was enabled by a series of overrides and ignored warnings within the correctional system.

More on that below, plus updates on weekend fires, Pride, and more.

— Cam

🌤️ Today's weather: Mainly sunny. Some wind. High 22C (19 near water)/ low 12C. UV index 8 (very high).

🌫️ Air quality: Low risk today (2/10), some light overhead smoke.

NEWS

Four years since jailbreak and murder in Metchosin

On July 7 2019, inmates Zachary Armitage, then 30, and James Lee Busch, then 42, escaped William Head minimum-security prison simply by walking away at low tide. While free, they entered the Metchosin home of Martin Payne, 60, and used his computer to research transportation and their situation. When Payne returned, they attacked him—intending, the Crown argued, to confine him and get his financial access, and killed him in the struggle.

The fugitives were later caught when they commented on the dog of a passing off-duty police officer. Payne’s body was found there a few days later during a wellness check.

Armitage and Busch were each sentenced last winter to life in prison. Armitage pleaded guilty midway through the trial, apologizing to the family and saying at sentencing that he would trade his life for Payne’s. Busch was found guilty of murder by a jury, and filed to appeal; his lawyer argued at trial that only Armitage killed Payne.

Men were not initially qualified for minimum security

Busch and Armitage were both violent offenders and considered at high risk to reoffend. Capital Daily obtained corrections documents showing that the scales used to rank an inmate’s security level were overridden in both cases to send them to William Head. Armitage had been convicted of escapes four times but was seen in 2018 by Corrections decision-makers as having no continued escape plans and as having made improvements.

Correctional staff also flagged Busch, in summer 2019, as a “time bomb” and poor fit for minimum security.

Payne’s daughters Calla and Jessica Payne filed a civil lawsuit last summer against Correctional Service Canada, arguing his death was a “direct and foreseeable consequence” of breaches of care including monitoring on the day-of and the prior overrides.

Capital Bulletin

 🔎 Missing: Tory Miller, 29, not seen since July 4 and believed to have been on an e-bike and using CRD trails. [Image]

🚴 ​Mass bike ride today protesting Oak Bay’s lack of lanes—a noticeable gap in the regional network. It goes from UVic at 5pm to Oak Bay municipal hall at 6pm.

🥎 Canada Cup competition begins today, with local softball players—Olympic medalist Emma Entzminger and national U-17 MVP Ruby Anderson—representing Canada vs. other nations in Surrey.

📈 Interest rate hike expected on Wednesday, with Bank of Canada raising it to 4.75%.

NEWS

Sunday morning blaze leaves Dallas Road scorched

A stretch of bluff was left blackened after a 1:30am fire, believed to be human-caused, near Finlayson Point Beach. Victoria Fire received multiple calls and upgraded the fire almost immediately based on how strong it looked and the risk to nearby Beacon Hill. It took 2.5 hours to suppress, and firefighters said it shows the importance of locals obeying the fire ban.

Langford Fire Rescue has warned locals about proper disposal of cigarettes and proper use of machinery that could spark. Nearly the entire Island is now at the highest level of fire risk (Extreme) and second highest possible (but currently highest active) level of drought.

The Dallas fire was one of several urban fires on the weekend.

Paving truck burns down to a shell

On Friday afternoon, “a road repair truck containing tar burst into flames sending residents fleeing from their homes” in the Arbutus Ridge neighbourhood near Cobble Hill and Mill Bay, according to nearby Capital Daily reader Linda McIntyre. Fire crews’ quick response left nothing but a shell of a truck, she said.

An industrial fire in Rock Bay at Ellice Recycling sent up plumes of smoke visible throughout the region. Fire crews praised a staffer’s quick thinking to call in an excavator to clear debris as they fought the fire.

On Saturday, a vehicle fire briefly closed Sooke River Road.

NEWS

Tens of thousands join Victoria’s Pride celebration

The parade and festival, which began in 1994 and 1995 respectively, returned on Sunday with floats from 100+ local groups, booths, and day-long entertainment at MacDonald Park. The 28th annual parade, livestreamed by CHEK, took over Douglas and made its way down to James Bay.

The hours of park performances capped off a week-plus that featured long-running events such as the Big Gay Dog Walk and Memorial Drag Baseball. Greater Victoria has a significant 2SLGBTQ+ presence, including the highest proportion of trans and nonbinary people among all Canadian metros.

But the region has not escaped what has been a broader recent rise in hate; several local crosswalks and public flags have been defaced since the start of June. The parade countered that with a mass public show of acceptance; a visiting Texan joined the parade as soon as she saw it was happening, telling the Times Colonist she felt safe to be herself there without the risk of violence.

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Capital Picks

🎭 Greater Victoria Shakespeare Festival: Watch a performance of All’s Well That Ends Well directed by Jemma Alix Levy at Horticulture Centre of the Pacific. 6:30pm.

🎤 All Together Now drop-in choir: Sing along to Tina Turner today at the Victoria Event Centre. 7pm.  

🏒 She shoots, she scores! Episode 14 of the Victoria Foundation's Vital Victoria Podcast is out, featuring Micah Zandee-Hart from the Canadian Women's National Hockey Team.*

🖼️ And She Said at Cinderbloc Studio: Torval Rodger’s public exhibition on themes of beauty, disassociation, and finding intangible purpose takes place today. 1-7pm.

🎥 Subtraction at The Vic Theatre: This Iranian noir thriller, which begins with a woman seeing her husband on a bus and following him, is playing today and tomorrow.

🤝 Now hiring: Accountant at Victoria Hospice Society.

*Sponsored Listing

In Other News

🚨 Victoria’s crisis-response team model expands to Comox Valley
The valley will now get a PACT team, in which dispatches to emergency calls for people in mental or substance-related crises include peer supporters and mental-health professionals as well as police.

👨‍⚕️ Week-long suspension of Victoria nurse over problems in long-term care 
He was found to have documented improperly, lost medication, mixed up medication, not finished assessment, not helped with his patient, and not given a proper report, Nov. 2020 to April 2021. The nurse’s consent agreement also requires seven months without being the sole health-care practitioner on duty.

🤝 Now Hiring

Thinking of making your next career move? Let us help!

• Seasonal Custodian at The Butchart Gardens

• Mid to Senior Software Engineer at SingleOps

• Tax Coordinator at Together Against Poverty Society

• Digital Marketing Specialist at Westin Bear Mountain Resort & Spa

• Vice President, Deals at Tenzing

Looking for more openings? See 50+ jobs open now on YYJobs.

Hiring? Post your job to have it featured here, and fill your opening fast!

In Case You Missed It

🗳️ ​​North Saanich byelection: Kristine Marshall won with 70% of the vote on Sat., concluding a process sparked when Coun. Brett Smyth resigned over calling Mayor Peter Jones “Mr. Hitler” during one of their many dust-ups over the OCP process. [Capital Daily]
[Sunday correction: The original story contained a mistaken extra zero on the end of the voter total.]

🔬 UVic first in Canada to get new research device, as local marine and tech sectors get $8M in federal funding. [Vic Tech Journal]

🚧 Paving begins on Downey, starting at Madrona and moving east toward West Saanich Road over the next three days.

🏥 Saanich Peninsula Hospital ER fully closing overnight until Sept., due to staffing, after reducing overnight operations in May. Also in Sat. newsletter: Lawsuit over 2021 police shooting outside a Tim Hortons. 10 marathons in 10 days. Popular pig at risk.

🍩 7 favourite summer dishes, from donuts and beers to tater tots and caviar. [Tasting Victoria]