Two brothers accused of a bombing that occurred in Oliver have been ordered for a psychiatric assessment.
Stephan Wesley Daoust, 19, and Eric Daoust, 23, appeared at the Penticton provincial courthouse on Monday each facing a single count of placing/throwing an explosive to damage property. The pair were ordered detained while a 30-day forensic psychiatric assessment is conducted at a Port Coquitlam hospital to determine if they are not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
The alleged incident took place in August at a home on Earle Crescent and the brothers were arrested on Thursday following a two-month long investigation by Oliver RCMP and Penticton/South Okanagan Similkameen General Investigation Section.
“Our findings into both associated matters indicate that the violence was targeted towards the young man who resided in the home where the car was damaged. All three knew each other and are Oliver residents. It appears that the matter stemmed from a mutual longstanding dislike for each other. Luckily no one was injured as a result.” said Cpl. Dan Moskaluk in a press release.
The younger of the brothers, Stephan, is also charged with break and enter, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose for an alleged incident that took place at the same home in the 600-block of Earle Crescent that was targeted in the explosion. On Sept. 8 a woman inside the residence called RCMP complaining someone sprayed an irritating substance into her home. RCMP found a canister of bear spray, wrapped in electrical tape, in close proximity to the house.
The explosion incident occurred on Aug. 11 and went unreported for a day as residents on Earle Crescent originally believed it to be a lightning strike. One resident who lives besides the home where the explosion went off told the Penticton Western News her mother was jarred awake around 2 a.m. from a loud noise but thought it was thunder.
The following day a resident attended the Oliver RCMP office with a piece of metal shrapnel that caused damage to a homeowners' garage and a vehicle parked nearby.
RCMP officers attended and examined the scene and determined that an improvised (homemade) explosive device had been placed and detonated under a vehicle parked in the residential alleyway between Okanagan Street and Earle Crescent.
No one was injured in the blast however, close examination of the vehicle and a nearby homeowner's garage uncovered damage by the blast and flying shrapnel. The metal fragment (18 centimetres in length and five cm in width) was found in the complainant's garage after travelling at a sufficient velocity to go through the outside wall, splintering a two by four stud and coming to rest inside the garage.