Nanaimo’s chief administrative officer’s court date has been moved once again.
Tracy Samra had been scheduled to appear in provincial court in Nanaimo today, May 1, at 9 a.m. However, that date has now been moved to May 15 at 9 a.m.
The B.C. Prosecution Service is seeking to have Samra bound to conditions of a peace bond following an incident at city hall on Jan. 31 when she was arrested for allegedly threatening multiple individuals. According to a court document, RCMP believe that Mayor Bill McKay, city councillors Sheryl Armstrong and Diane Brennan and Jan Kemp, Sheila Gurrie, Donna Stennes, Kim Fowler, Brad McRae and Dominic Jones have reasonable grounds to fear personal harm or injury stemming from the Jan. 31 incident.
This is the third time that Samra’s court date has been rescheduled since March. Samra’s first court date had been set for March 27, but was moved to April 10 and then again to May 1.
Samra’s lawyer, Robert A. Mulligan, told the News Bulletin that multiple adjournments are common in these types of cases.
“The general idea is that there usually are a few court appearances at the front end of a case for people to arrange for a lawyer. For the lawyer to get disclosure from the Crown, to have discussions with the client,” he said. “If the matter is going to be dealt with in some substantive way, whatever it is, then there has be some effort to estimate the amount of court time that is required.”
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Samra remains on paid leave with the city. Councillors approved hiring an interim chief administrative officer in Samra’s absence. Mulligan said there is an “employment side” that involves his client, adding that he is not involved in those matters. He said whatever Samra is going through from an employment side of things is not having an impact his case, but noted that his case could be having an impact on employment matters.