A trial to resume Tuesday for four men accused of a drug-related kidnapping, confinement and assault, hit a further delay when the alleged victim once again failed to appear at the Prince George courthouse to testify.
Provincial Court Judge Dan Weatherly subsequently issued a warrant for the man's apprehension and ordered the accused and counsel reconvene at the courthouse Wednesday morning.
Michael Andrew Joseph Fitzgerald faces 19 charges and Francois Christiaan Meerholz, Dillan Meerholz and Craig Anthony Niedermayer each face 10 counts in relation to the April 15, 2012 incident.
The Crown is alleging the four kidnapped the man and held him at a Ferndale property but he eventually escaped through a second-story window and fled to the nearby community hall.
It's the second time the case has gone to trial. The first began in January 2013, but was halted after nearly seven days of testimony when Provincial Court Judge Darrell O'Byrne, now deceased, fell ill.
A new trial began in July but hit a snag when the man, whose name was protected by a publication ban during the first trial, had gone missing. He picked up on a Canada-wide warrant and was served a subpoena in November while in custody.
But he was released last week and while police have been in contact with him, he expressed reluctance to appear in Prince George and claimed he does not remember what happened, the court heard Tuesday.
In arguing for a warrant, Crown prosecutor Marie Louise Ahrens said there remains reason to pursue the matter, such as the impact the sight of the man bursting into the community hall had on a young boy who testified earlier in the trial.
"And the safety of the community at large is at risk if intimidation and assault and forcible confinement and matters of the kind that are at issue before you are allowed to proceed unchecked," she told Weatherly.
In response to a concern the man is not likely to co-operate even if he does appear at court, Ahrens said there remains a "variety of tools, including my own persuasion, if I ever actually get to meet this man I have not seen," to coax testimony from him.
"He has material evidence to give in that he knows jolly well what happened and it's only if we get him here that we will know what he intends to do in terms of speaking or not speaking, availing himself of protection of the Canada Evidence Act," Ahrens said.
