One of the men accused in the fatal stabbing of a 29-year-old victim on Nanaimo’s waterfront last year will remain behind bars.
Mark Jayden Harrison, 20, faces a charge of manslaughter in relation to the death of Fred Parsons at Maffeo Sutton Park on Sept. 5, 2022. He was arrested by police a few days after the incident. He appeared in B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo via video as part of a detention review hearing Wednesday, Sept. 20, and was denied release by Justice Robin Baird.
Details from the hearing cannot be revealed due to a publication ban.
Nanaimo residents have been expressing concern about violence and criminal activity in the streets and Collen Middelton, Nanaimo Area Public Safety Association president, welcomed the court’s decision.
“We do need to hear about this, too, in the public, so that we can start to gain a little bit of faith and trust that our judicial system actually functions because right now, we’re in the dark,” he said. “It seems like with how many people are out and about that are clearly a danger to themselves or others, we need to know that … hopefully as part of their incarceration they have access to programs that will correct the behaviour in the future and they’ll stay behind bars as long as it takes to no longer be a danger to the public.”
Harrison and a co-accused, Aiden Matthew Bell, 20, are set to stand trial in front of a jury beginning July 22.
RELATED: Man stabbed, killed at Maffeo Sutton Park in Nanaimo
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