Kamloops This Week
The son of a former Edmonton police chief now accused of stabbing his cellmate in the eye made a brief in-person appearance in Kamloops provincial court on Oct. 27.
Five sheriffs stood guard as Mark Lindsay was led into Courtroom 2D at the Kamloops Law Courts.
The 24-year-old was charged last week with one count of aggravated assault in relation to the jailhouse stabbing.
On Thursday Oct. 20, emergency crews were called to Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre after an inmate was stabbed in the eye with a pen and a pencil.
Michel Desmond Fougere, Lindsay’s 21-year-old cellmate, underwent brain surgery the following day at Vancouver General Hospital.
He is still recovering in hospital, but is expected to be returned to KRCC once cleared by doctors.
Fougere’s sister told KTW surgeons removed three pieces of pencil from her brother’s brain.
She also said her brother told her his attacker made references to “black magic” prior to the stabbing.
Lindsay remained silent for most of the brief hearing this morning, but said “Thank you” to the judge after having his matter put over until Monday, Oct. 31.
Monday is also when Lindsay is expected back in court on charges stemming from an alleged incident in Barriere last month, for which he’s facing charges of aggravated assault, robbery and possession of a dangerous weapon.
Lindsay has been in custody at KRCC since Sept. 21, when he was arrested by Kamloops RCMP in connection with the alleged stabbing of an undercover police officer in Barriere.
The 24-year-old Edmonton man had been travelling with the undercover cop in a pickup truck hauling a trailer.
In Barriere, it’s alleged Lindsay stabbed the undercover officer and stole the truck and trailer.
He was driving south toward Kamloops when he was stopped by a Kamloops RCMP roadblock near McLure.
It is believed he was the target of a so-called RCMP Mr. Big operation, in which undercover officers posing as gangsters recruit a suspect into a fictitious criminal organization.
The supposed gangsters build up the suspect’s trust by having him perform a number of tasks, usually involving moving packages and often including staged violence.
The operations culminate in a meeting between the suspect and the fake gang’s boss, at which the target is asked to come clean about any crimes in his past.
KTW has learned Lindsay has been identified by police as a homicide suspect, but he’s never been publicly named and it’s not known which murder he’s suspected of committing.
Lindsay served 50 days in jail this summer following an altercation with his girlfriend, Dana Turner, in June, during which he stabbed her in the head.
Originally charged with attempted murder, Lindsay pleaded guilty on Aug. 12 to a reduced charge in an Edmonton courtroom.
He was sentenced to time served and released from jail.
Turner, 31, went missing two days later, on Aug. 14. Her body was found just outside Innisfail, in central Alberta, on Oct. 9.
Lindsay has not been identified publicly as a suspect in Turner’s disappearance or death.
RCMP media liaisons in B.C. and Alberta will not discuss Lindsay’s charges relating to the alleged incident in Barriere, citing a publication ban on the file.
Lindsay is the son of former Edmonton police chief John Lindsay, who is now a deacon in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton.
This Oct. 27, hearing was the first time Mark Lindsay has appeared in court in-person since his arrest on Sept. 21.