HAMILTON — The trial has started for one of the people accused in a triple homicide case spanning two First Nations reserves in Ontario — and ended in a suspension after the accused fired his lawyer during the trial.
Justice Andrew Goodman in Hamilton’s Superior Court heard Thomas Bomberry’s lawyer, Lindsay Daviau, who said she did not have permission to continue with the trial. Bomberry said he no longer agreed with a previous statement he gave on the events outlining evidence in the trial.
Thomas Bomberry, 32, pled not guilty on two counts of second-degree murder in the November 2018 deaths of Melissa Trudi Miller, 37; and Alan Porter, 33. Their remains, along with those of Michael Jamieson, 32 — were discovered in an abandoned truck near Oneida Nation of the Thames, outside London.
Coroners called to testify in the case earlier this week, revealed gruesome details about injuries that Miler and Porter sustained prior to their deaths.
Bomberry is one of three people facing murder charges in the case. Nicholas Shipman, 39, and Jamie Beaver, 35 pled guilty and are set to be sentenced in March.
Kirsten Bomberry, Vernon Shipman and Roland Sturgeon were all charged as accessories to murder after the fact int he case.
Shipman goes to trial in April. The charges against Sturgeon were withdrawn.
Courts heard the victims were killed on Kirsten Bomberry’s property around October 29, 2018 and Bomberry admitted to burying the weapons used to kill the victims. Bomberry told the courts she assisted the killers out of fear for her own life. She was acquitted in June 2019.
During this week’s trial, Kirsten Bomberry appeared in court on Monday to testify but was charged with contempt after refusing to answer questions, nodding off in court and appearing to be intoxicated. She was ordered to spend the night in jail by the presiding judge.
Now, with Bomberry firing his lawyer, the trial is on hold with an anticipated return date for March 24 in Brantford for an update on Bomberry seeking a new lawyer.
