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Vancouver double homicide preliminary hearing gets underway

Joseph Rodney Holland, facing double-homicide charges, appeared by video Jan. 18 for the start of his preliminary hearing in Vancouver Provincial Court.
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The double murder charge preliminary hearing for Joseph Rodney Holland began Vancouver provincial courthouse Jan. 18.

A preliminary hearing for a man charged with two counts of murder in connection with the 2020 killings of two Vancouver men has begun.

Joseph Rodney Holland, of Vancouver, was arrested by the RCMP's Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team on July 8, 2020, in Harrison Hot Springs.

The RCMP’s Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team arrested Joseph Rodney Holland of Vancouver July 8 in Harrison Hot Springs in connection to the murders of Dennis Wragg, 72, and Paul Tonks, 68.

Police had received a 911 call just before 12:30 a.m. on July 8, 2020 about two men shot inside a residence near Commercial Drive and East 11th Avenue. Paramedics on the scene confirmed that both men were dead. They were the sixth and seventh homicides of the year.

Vancouver police were able to identify a vehicle of interest in the case and later found it in Chilliwack.

Holland remains in custody and appeared by video in Vancouver Provincial Court.

The purpose of a preliminary hearing is to determine if enough evidence exists for the case to proceed to trial.

A publication ban covers such hearings so as not to taint a possible future trial jury.

jhainsworth@glaciermedia.ca

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