Abbotsford – The Crown dropped charges Friday April 30 against one of the animal rights activists who drew attention to Excelsior Hog Farm with alleged documented evidence of what activists describe as criminal animal cruelty. Geoff Regier’s indictable offences of Break and Enter and Criminal Mischief were dropped after lawyers argued ‘Abuse of Process’ by the BC Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (BCSPCA). Regier is one of the Excelsior 4, four activists accused of exposing animal cruelty at the Abbotsford hog farm in April 2019.
The original FVN story is here.
From the release that the activists gave to media:
Regier made contact with the BCSPCA in July 2019 with video footage of animal cruelty at Excelsior. Instead of recommending charges against the hog farm, the BCSPCA violated its own confidentiality policy and turned Regier over to police.
BC SPCA wanted to clarify a few points:
– No reason was given by the Crown as to why charges were dropped.
– The judge made no findings that the BCSPCA engaged in “abuse of process”.
– Article are misleading insofar as they appear to draw a connection between these points when nothing was said about it by Crown counsel or the Court.
– The judge found that there was no basis upon which he would have stayed charges against Mr. Rigear with respect to anything done by the Society. He found that the Society had no information that would have assisted the stay application that had not been disclosed. He found that Mr. Rigear was never granted confidential informant status by the Society and as such charges would not have been granted on that basis.
The three remaining activists—Amy Soranno, Roy Sasano, and Nick Schafer—are scheduled to go to trial for four weeks in Abbotsford beginning June 27. The three face a combined total of 18 charges of Break and Enter and Criminal Mischief, and years in jail if convicted.
The Excelsior 4 have launched a website to let the public know about their case, the story behind their charges, and how to take action against animal cruelty. Find out more about the Excelsior 4: www.excelsior4.org/.
