First-degree murder verdict in killing of Armstrong teen
Posted April 5, 2014 12:43 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
KELOWNA (NEWS1130) – A BC Supreme Court jury has found a man charged in the killing of a teenaged girl in Armstrong guilty of first-degree murder.
The jury started deliberating Friday afternoon on the fate of 28-year-old Matthew Foerster.
Foerster admitted he killed 18-year-old Taylor Van Diest on Halloween night in 2011, but denied it was intentional.
Wayne Moore with our Okanagan news partner Castanet says it was a packed courtroom for the decision today. “The Van Diest family was very emotional once the verdict of first-degree murder was read. There was no emotional outburst, as the judge had asked, but there was a lot of hugging, a lot of sobbing, a lot of tears.”
The trial heard the teen was found lying near railway tracks, her skull had been fractured and she died a few hours later in hospital.
Foerster’s lawyer told court that he should be found guilty of the lesser charge of manslaughter because while her client was having sexual thoughts about Van Diest, there was no evidence he intended to rape her.
But Crown lawyer Iain Currie said the fact that Foerster hit Van Diest on the head with a heavy flashlight, tightened a shoelace then disposed of the evidence, left little doubt he intended to kill her.
Moore says their was no reaction from Foerster as the guilty verdict was read out. “Through his lawyer, chose to say nothing. Outside the courtroom, Taylor’s mother Marie said to that, it just shows how much of a coward he really is.”
