News (Media Awareness Project) - CN BC: Strip Search Didn't Violate Rights: Judge |
| Title: | CN BC: Strip Search Didn't Violate Rights: Judge |
| Published On: | 2007-02-11 |
| Source: | Province, The (CN BC) |
| Fetched On: | 2008-08-17 11:22:23 |
STRIP SEARCH DIDN'T VIOLATE RIGHTS: JUDGE
But Arresting Woman Said To Be Unjust
A New Westminster woman's rights have been found to have been
violated after her arrest, but not by her subsequent strip-search, at
the Vancouver jail that turned up baggies of cocaine and heroin in
her brassiere.
The evidence against Xia Xia Vixaysongkham was ruled admissible
Friday and she was found guilty of possession of the drugs -- but not
guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The case against Vixaysongkham began in July 2004 when police,
responding to a report of an argument between her and her boyfriend,
attended the boyfriend's apartment.
Police allegedly found a marijuana grow-op. She was arrested on
drug-production and trafficking charges and released on a promise to appear.
Just before the court return date, she got a phone call from police
telling her she need not attend court on that day and she'd receive a summons.
She gave them the New Westminster address of her parents as her place
of residence, but the summons requiring her to attend court was
mailed to her boyfriend. Because the summons was returned and she
didn't receive it before being pulled over on a traffic stop, she was
taken to jail on an arrest warrant that had been issued.
As she was strip-searched, a female guard felt something lumpy in her
bra and found two baggies with rock-like substances underneath a flap
in the bra. The baggies contained 5.12 grams of cocaine and .81 grams
of heroin.
In a hearing before B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Tysoe, her
lawyer argued that her Charter rights had been breached.
The judge found that her rights had been violated when she was
detained and imprisoned pursuant to the arrest warrant, but added
that the drugs seized were serious narcotics and the admission of the
evidence would not bring the administration of justice into
disrepute. Her rights were not violated by the strip-search itself,
the judge ruled.
Vixaysongkham is to be sentenced in April. She goes to trial on the
grow-op charges in July.
But Arresting Woman Said To Be Unjust
A New Westminster woman's rights have been found to have been
violated after her arrest, but not by her subsequent strip-search, at
the Vancouver jail that turned up baggies of cocaine and heroin in
her brassiere.
The evidence against Xia Xia Vixaysongkham was ruled admissible
Friday and she was found guilty of possession of the drugs -- but not
guilty of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
The case against Vixaysongkham began in July 2004 when police,
responding to a report of an argument between her and her boyfriend,
attended the boyfriend's apartment.
Police allegedly found a marijuana grow-op. She was arrested on
drug-production and trafficking charges and released on a promise to appear.
Just before the court return date, she got a phone call from police
telling her she need not attend court on that day and she'd receive a summons.
She gave them the New Westminster address of her parents as her place
of residence, but the summons requiring her to attend court was
mailed to her boyfriend. Because the summons was returned and she
didn't receive it before being pulled over on a traffic stop, she was
taken to jail on an arrest warrant that had been issued.
As she was strip-searched, a female guard felt something lumpy in her
bra and found two baggies with rock-like substances underneath a flap
in the bra. The baggies contained 5.12 grams of cocaine and .81 grams
of heroin.
In a hearing before B.C. Supreme Court Justice David Tysoe, her
lawyer argued that her Charter rights had been breached.
The judge found that her rights had been violated when she was
detained and imprisoned pursuant to the arrest warrant, but added
that the drugs seized were serious narcotics and the admission of the
evidence would not bring the administration of justice into
disrepute. Her rights were not violated by the strip-search itself,
the judge ruled.
Vixaysongkham is to be sentenced in April. She goes to trial on the
grow-op charges in July.
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