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19-year-old charged with first degree murder remanded until August 22

His next appearance will be via video conference from Monteith

The court appearance of 19-year old Nathan Koostachin was brief, but it gave members of the public, who ventured to Provincial Court Room One, a glimpse of the young man accused of the recent Bozzer Park killing of 19-year old Austen Theriault.

Koostachin’s first appearance was a formality to book a second appearance that would lead to the selection of dates for the formal trial to begin.

Despite being a simple enough process, Koostachin’s first appearance was twice delayed.

Scheduled to appear at 9:30 a.m. his appearance was pushed back to after the morning break at 11:45 a.m. and then again at 2 p.m.

Koostachin finally was summoned from the holding cell and brought into court by a court officer. 

He stood between 5’ 10” and 6 feet tall, but he had a baby-face atop a large, powerful body.

Koostachin wore glasses, an orange T-shirt on top of grey sweat pants. Except for a tuft of a growth of chin hairs fashioned into a modest goatee, he was clean shaven.

He strode into the glass enclosed witness box and listened as the judge as the Crown Attorney discussed the scheduling options for his next appearance.

Finally, the judge remanded Koostachin’s case until Monday, August 22 at 10 a.m.

But Koostachin won’t have to make the drive from Monteith Correctional Complex to the Provincial Court House next time. His next appearance will be via video conference from Monteith.

Provincial Court, also known as the Ontario Court of Justice, generally hears only cases of lesser crimes like breaking and entries and domestic assaults.

Cases involving murder in the first degree according to the court officials are directed to the Ontario Superior Court of Justice, which in Timmins is located on Spruce Avenue North, just across from the 101 Mall where the Provincial Courts are located.

After the brief session which lasted no more than 10 minutes, Koostachin was brought back to his holding cell and waited for his transport back to Monteith.

At 5:30 p.m. the doors to the prisoner’s entrance for the Provincial Court House on the north side of the 101 Mall swung open and several court auxiliary police escorted several other accused men into the Timmins Police Court Services Van for the ride back to Monteith.

One after another, the men were hustled in handcuffs and leg chains into the van. The last to come out was Nathan Koostachin and his youthful appearance struck a sharp contrast with the more mature looks of the previous accused men.


Frank Giorno

About the Author: Frank Giorno

Frank Giorno worked as a city hall reporter for the Brandon Sun; freelanced for the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star. He is the past editor of www.mininglifeonline.com and the newsletter of the Association of Italian Canadian Writers.
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