Kamloops This Week, October 08, 2015

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KAMLOOPS THIS WEEK THURSDAY

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OCTOBER 8, 2015 | Volume 28 No. 121

BURN IT DOWN — UPSIDE DOWN

A truck full of gear belonging to country singer Jason Aldean went off Highway 1 west of Kamloops near Cherry Creek at about 1 a.m. on Tuesday after Aldean had wrapped up a packed concert at Sandman Centre. Kamloops Rural RCMP said the driver of the truck suffered non-lifethreatening injuries when the truck went off the right hand side of the road, striking a rock, causing the unit to flip. The truck was en route to Prince George for the next stop on Aldean’s Burn it Down tour. The accident led to Tuesday night’s Prince George concert being postponed until Wednesday night. The cause of the crash remains under investigation. ANDREA KLASSEN/KTW

Widow wants killer to think about his crime TIM PETRUK

STAFF REPORTER

tim@kamloopsthisweek.com

When Sandy Forbes was informed by parole authorities that her husband’s killer planned to move to Kamloops, she had one request. “I suggested he go to the bridge where he killed my husband a couple times a week to think about that,” Forbes, the widow of Douglas Gormley, told KTW. “I want him to feel the pain that he’s put us through. I think it could help him. He’s taken a father away, a husband away.” On March 18, 1999, Gormley was biking home from work at a downtown Kamloops restaurant.

As he crossed Overlanders Bridge, he was attacked at random by a trio of men — Neil Edwards, Bobby Narcisse and Kyle Johnny. Gorman, a 29-year-old father of two, was beaten to death. Narcisse and Johnny were convicted of manslaughter, while Edwards was found guilty of murder. The crime shook Kamloops. More than 100 people packed a courtroom to hear the verdict read. The sentencing judge called the murder “a random, unprovoked, brutal, senseless and cowardly attack on an innocent and helpless stranger.” Edwards was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years.

Narcisse and Johnny were handed sentences of six and four years, respectively. In 2002, after the trio was sentenced, Forbes was part of a ceremony that saw a tree planted in Gormley’s memory in Riverside Park, not far from the bridge. Forbes said she was notified last week by the Parole Board of Canada that Edwards planned to return to Kamloops this week after spending some time at a halfway house in the Lower Mainland. “Basically, I said, ‘Well, I don’t think my opinion is going to make a difference,’” she said. “First I thought he shouldn’t. Then I thought, ‘Yeah, he should.’” Edwards was 20 at the time of the murder.

He had a youth record dating back to 1995 and, as an adult, had been convicted of two violent crimes prior to Gormley’s murder. He was described by a psychologist in court as “damaged and disturbed.” Since the murder, Forbes has remarried and now lives on Vancouver Island. She said she hopes to one day come face to face with Edwards so both of them can heal. “I’m not sure what I would say,” she said. “I know one of my sons wants an apology letter from him. But, my other son is still unsure what he wants to do.” Gormley’s sons were 11 and five years of age when Edwards was sentenced in February 2001.

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