A young man charged with second-degree murder in the 2021 killing of Penticton鈥檚 Taig Savage will remain in custody after it was revealed Tuesday that he is ineligible for a rural residential treatment program due to the severity of the charge.
The accused, who was a minor when Savage鈥檚 body was found in a field near Penticton Secondary School on Sept. 5, 2021, had recently breached strict bail conditions twice and was re-arrested in May.
Now an adult, his identity remains protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
Defence lawyer Nelson Selemaj had proposed his release under tighter conditions, including GPS ankle monitoring. But the court learned that the monitoring system wouldn鈥檛 work at the rural location near Penticton due to unreliable GPS signal strength, preventing authorities from tracking him effectively.
Crown attorney Kurt Froehlich, who did not attend Tuesday鈥檚 hearing, had previously opposed bail and stated his intention to pursue a custodial sentence.
Judge Michelle Danyluk, who presided over the initial bail hearing on May 23 in Kelowna, was set to rule Tuesday on whether the accused could be released into treatment with ankle monitoring. However, the facility鈥檚 rejection of the youth and the GPS issues forced her to delay the decision.
鈥淭he facility is not going to take him knowing what his charges are,鈥� Selemaj told the court.
The co-ed treatment centre does not accept violent offenders. Although the accused remains legally innocent, Selemaj said the stigma of a murder charge was enough for the program to reject him.
Savage, 22, was found unresponsive in the field and died shortly after being taken to hospital. Police described the incident as a swarming-style attack. Investigators said Savage had left his home that morning in pyjamas and a hoodie before encountering the group that allegedly attacked him.
Four individuals鈥攖hree of them minors at the time鈥攚ere arrested in April 2024. The only publicly named suspect is Isaac Hayse Jack, now 22, who remains free on bail while facing a second-degree murder charge.
The other threeTheir charges were later upgraded to second-degree murder.
On May 16, the youth now in custody pleaded guilty to violating his court-ordered curfew. The Crown is seeking a 30-day jail sentence, which could increase due to his second arrest days later.
Meanwhile, the only female co-accused, now 19, pleaded guilty to assault in a separate incident and was sentenced last month.
The road rage incident occurred in November 2023, when she allegedly struck a stranger in a downtown Penticton hotel parking lot. According to Froehlich, the woman had been driving a pickup when the victim commented on her driving. After a brief argument, she followed him, parked, approached him on foot, and sucker-punched him. The unprovoked assault was caught on video and later reported to police.
Her defence lawyer, Cory Armour, argued for a community-based sentence, noting that she had recently suffered the loss of her stepfather and had just learned her criminal charges had been upgraded. Armour emphasized that she had since moved in with her grandmother, secured full-time employment, and accepted responsibility. He submitted five letters of support and highlighted her remorse.
On June 19, she was sentenced to 40 days in jail, plus credit for two weeks of pre-trial custody.
Back in court Tuesday, Judge Danyluk emphasized that the accused鈥檚 charge is among the most serious in Canadian law and said the court could not ignore that fact when considering bail.
She also expressed frustration over the last-minute submission of the Technical Suitability Report (TSR) for the GPS monitoring equipment, which had been missing until just before Tuesday鈥檚 hearing.
鈥淚 was ready to give a decision,鈥� Danyluk said.
鈥淏ut I can鈥檛 based on this new information.鈥�
She questioned whether there were any technical solutions available鈥攕uch as a signal booster鈥攖o make ankle monitoring feasible at the rural location proposed for the youth鈥檚 release.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 gone on,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what鈥檚 going on... it doesn鈥檛 make any sense to me.鈥�
The accused has now spent over two months in custody awaiting a decision on bail.
No new date for a bail ruling was set.
