A scheduled court date for the City of Nanaimo’s chief administrative officer has been moved once again.
Tracy Samra was scheduled to appear in provincial court in Nanaimo on March 27. However, her lawyer, Robert A. Mulligan, successfully had the court date moved to April 10 in order to collect more information related to the case. On April 9, that date was rescheduled to May 1 at 9 a.m.
The B.C. Prosecution Service is seeking to have Samra bound to conditions of a peace bond after she was arrested following an incident at city hall on Jan 31., where she allegedly threatened multiple individuals.
Mulligan confirmed his client’s court date has been moved again. He said it is normal for court dates to be moved around in order to allow counsel time to conduct preliminary work, such as receiving disclosure information from the prosecution.
“It’s essential work. It’s not to be minimized and in fact some of the most important work in any case is done outside of the court room,” Mulligan said.
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Those preliminary steps must be taken in order to determine what direction the case heads in and how long it will take, according to Mulligan, who said his client’s case has “a lot” of elements to it and will take time to sort out. He said once the preliminary work is completed, a much clearer timeframe will emerge.
Samra, who has been on paid leave since Jan. 31, became the city’s permanent manager in March 2016, after being hired on an interim basis in November 2015.