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THURSDAY DEC. 18, 2014
Nanaimo Theatre Group stages annual Christmas show.
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VOL. 26, NO. 63
Extortion trial ends with guilty verdict BY KARL YU THE NEWS BULLETIN
CHRIS BUSH/THE NEWS BULLETIN
Shareen Buck watches as her daughter Cadence Thompson, 4, gives Santa some close scrutiny before satisfying herself that the man in the red suit is the real deal at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital’s pediatric ward Tuesday. Santa spent the day aboard an air ambulance flying to children’s hospital wards on the Island and Lower Mainland.
Sick kids get a visit from Santa at Nanaimo hospital
I
AIR AMBULANCE crew shuttled the man in red to pediatric wards. BY CHRIS BUSH THE NEWS BULLETIN
Instead of thumping reindeer hooves and harness bells, Santa arrived to the whine of a turbine engine and buffeting rotor wash when he touched down at Nanaimo Regional General Hospital Tuesday. Santa’s arrival in a Helijet air ambulance was part of B.C. Emergency
Health Services’ annual Christmas toy run, which included Nanaimo in its flight plan this year. Santa and his elf Giselle Manese, a Helijet employee, visited children in NRGH’s pediatric ward. St. Nick’s unexpected appearance drew lots of smiles from some young patients and skepticism from others, such as Cadence Thompson, 4, who said she wasn’t sure what she wanted for Christmas and required a little proof the man in the red suit was really Santa. After seeing Santa pull on his beard, which was real, pat his belly, authenticity of which was never verified, and
touching his ring of silver sleigh bells, Thompson was satisfied he was the real deal and accepted a small teddy bear wearing a T-shirt bearing Helijet’s logo. Emma Montrose, 16, said she hoped to find a Fender acoustic guitar under her Christmas tree, which prompted a conversation with Santa about musical tastes and a promise from Montrose she’d practise diligently. In a place where children are laid low by serious diseases or waiting for surgery, smiles can be a rare commodity in spite of hospital staff’s best efforts. See ‘SANTA’ /4
Robert Frederick Widdifield, an alleged fullpatch member of the Nanaimo Hells Angels, has been found guilty by a B.C. Supreme Court judge for his part in an extortion plot. In his ruling Tuesday, Judge Robin Baird said the charges of extortion and theft over $5,000 against Widdifield stem from an October 2010 incident where a person, who can’t be named due to a publication ban, was ordered to pay $160,000, punched in the face and had a boat taken as “collateral.” Baird said Widdifield didn’t commit the acts of extortion and theft. However, the judge found beyond a reasonable doubt that, within the dates set out in the indictment, Widdifield participated in concert with three others – an alleged Hells Angels member and two associates – in a common unlawful enterprise of extorting and stealing. Widdifield, along with the others, was originally charged shortly after the 2010 incident, but the charges against him were stayed in June 2013, due to court delays. The Crown successfully appealed the ruling to the B.C. Supreme Court. Widdifield’s subsequent trial took place this fall. Given sentencing for Widdifield and two related proceedings are still before the courts, Neil MacKenzie, Crown counsel spokesman, said there wasn’t much Crown could comment on until sentencing was complete. “Certainly this was a case the Crown concluded should be pursued and I think that was reflected in the fact that the Crown pursued the appeal of the judicial stay of proceedings that had been entered earlier in the case, in 2013,” MacKenzie said. A date to set sentencing is Jan. 12. reporter@nanaimobulletin.com