Police hold man at centre of B.C. investigation

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 20/01/2024 (608 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A British Columbia man who was found not criminally responsible for a stabbing in a Victoria, B.C., park nearly a decade ago was found in Brandon this week after not reporting to a forensic psychiatric hospital.

In Brandon court on Thursday, a judge made an order to have B.C. authorities bring Paul Cowie, 34, back to the West Coast.

Cowie has been in custody in Brandon since Tuesday when Brandon police received a fax from the British Columbia Review Board requesting that police try to locate him.

According to information from BPS, Cowie was supposed to report to a forensic psychiatric hospital in Coquitlam, B.C., on Dec. 6, but didn’t show. The board believed that Cowie returned to Manitoba, where he had been arrested in 2019 for a stabbing in Victoria’s Beacon Hill Park that took place in 2014.

A press release from Victoria Police Department published last week said Cowie was found not criminally responsible on account of mental disorder by a B.C provincial judge last June.

The release also detailed VicPD’s investigation into Cowie, which spanned several years and jurisdictions, and was aided by technological advances in DNA collection.

Shortly after midnight on Jan. 12, 2014, VicPD patrol officers were called to Beacon Hill Park for a report that a man had been stabbed several times. The assault was interrupted by two witnesses and the suspect ran away.

The victim was transported to hospital and survived the attack, but was hospitalized for a lengthy period with serious injuries to his head, face and chest.

Officers conducted an extensive investigation, collecting DNA evidence and appealing to the public with a sketch of the suspect. For years, investigators continued to seek information and attempt to match the DNA collected in 2014.

It wasn’t until 2018 that officers made a break in the case because of technological advances in DNA evidence collection.

In October of that year, VicPD major crimes detectives submitted the DNA profile of the suspect to the United States to be checked with the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS), a database of DNA profiles that was not available to investigators back in 2014.

The DNA came back as a match to Paul Cowie, who was in the American database due to a criminal offence he committed in Wyoming.

Investigators learned that following the 2014 stabbing in Beacon Hill Park, Cowie fled from Vancouver Island and made his way to Alberta. There, he stole a Parks Canada vehicle and drove across the U.S. border. He was arrested by park rangers in Yellowstone National Park for unlawfully crossing the border in a stolen vehicle.

After his arrest in the U.S, Cowie’s DNA was collected and submitted to CODIS.

Once VicPD had identified Cowie as the suspect, officers then learned that he was living in Brandon. In November 2019, VicPD officers travelled to Brandon, where he was arrested and interviewed with the assistance of Brandon police.

Cowie was subsequently charged with aggravated assault by B.C prosecutors.

“Despite several years having passed since the incident, our officers remained focused on solving this file, and ultimately it was that prolonged effort, teamwork and problem solving that led to the arrest,” Del Manak, Victoria police chief said in a press release. “This is also a great demonstration of co-ordination across sections at VicPD as well as with agencies both nationally and internationally, and the remarkable power of DNA technology.”

VicPD declined to provide information about any ties that Cowie has to Brandon.

BPS said Brandon officers located Cowie this week at a residence in the 1200 block of Rosser Avenue, which they say was a residence he was known to frequent the last time he was in Brandon.

They said he was being held in custody while B.C. authorities made arrangements for his transport back to that province.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

» X: @geena_mortfield