By Cam Fortems
Kamloops This Week
Sentencing for a 25-year-old Terrace man found guilty in October 2015 of murdering his girlfriend three years ago in Kamloops has been further delayed while Crown and defence await a report.
Damien Taylor was found guilty after trial of second-degree murder in connection to the death of CJ Fowler, who was 16 at the time of her death three years ago.
Fowler, from the Hazeltons and living in Terrace at the time of her death, had traveled to Kamloops with Taylor in the weeks before her death. She was 16 and he was 21.
Sentencing arguments were originally set for earlier in February, but Crown prosecutor Alexandra Janse said a Gladue report is not complete, despite the four-month wait.
Gladue reports are sometimes ordered for First Nations offenders to detail their background.
March 9 is set for an update on the report and to fix a possible date for sentencing.
At trial, court heard the pair was visiting friends in Kamloops in December 2012.
The Crown's case was built on circumstantial evidence.
Fowler’s body, with a concrete chunk on her chest, was found by a person walking their dog in Guerin Creek on Dec. 5, 2012.
A pathologist testified Fowler choked to death when her tongue became trapped in her airway, the result of at least one blow to her head and face.