Officer’s sentencing delayed by bad weather
Bad weather on the coast that forced the cancellations of a number of BC Ferries sailings over the weekend has postponed the sentencing of a Kamloops Mountie facing a charge of obstructing justice.
RCMP Const. Ryan Sheremetta was scheduled to plead guilty and receive his sentence today (Jan. 23) in B.C. Supreme Court in Kamloops.
However, because of stormy weekend weather both in the Lower Mainland and on Vancouver Island, neither the Crown prosecutor assigned the file nor Sheremetta’s defence lawyer was able to make it to Kamloops for the hearing.
The 32-year-old constable was charged following an incident on March 7, 2010, outside a local nightclub.
It’s alleged Sheremetta punched another man in the face, resulting in an assault charge which was later stayed.
The details of the obstruction allegation have not yet been made public.
In November of 2010, Sheremetta pleaded not guilty to the charges and elected trial by a B.C. Supreme Court judge alone.
The matter went to a preliminary inquiry in Kamloops provincial court last May.
By the time the file moved to B.C. Supreme Court, the assault charge had been dropped.
The incident is not Sheremetta’s first time in the public eye.
In 2004, he shot and killed a robbery suspect while working in Vanderhoof.
Following a high-profile investigation, he was cleared of any wrongdoing.
Obstructing justice is defined in the Criminal Code of Canada as an attempt to “obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice,” and is punishable by a maximum of 10 years in jail.
Sheremetta is still stationed in Kamloops.
He was assigned to desk duty following the incident in 2010, but has since returned to active duty.
There was no indication Sheremetta was planning on pleading guilty — or that the assault charge had been dropped — until his name appeared on the B.C. Supreme Court docket today at the Kamloops Law Courts.
The hearing is now expected to take place later this week.
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