REGINA — Joseph Thauberger appeared by video from his home in the first full day of trial proceedings in Regina’s Court of King’s Bench today.
No witnesses were slated to appear during morning proceedings, rather a timeline of when the accused would be able to participate was established. This meant circling around various medical appointments for Thauberger, who is 80 years old, and will need to be excused to attend those dates.
“These four weeks were set for this trial,” said Justice Janet McMurtry. “I want to give Mr. Thauberger reasonable accommodation, but that means I need to know what I am accommodating.”
Ultimately, it was agreed that the Crown would read in the agreed statement of facts, then adjourn for the morning to reconvene later in the afternoon with the first of three Crown witnesses.
Thauberger is accused of first-degree murder relating to the death of his brother, Patrick Thauberger, in 1997. Patrick resided alone in Edmonton at this time and had travelled to Saskatcehwan in late summer of that year.
The Court heard that Patrick purchased a bus ticket in Winnipeg on Aug. 31, 1997 that contained three legs on the trip – the first portion from Winnipeg to Regina, then on to Saskatoon with Edmonton as a final destination. There was no indication that the remainder of the ticket past Regina was ever used. According to Joseph, the last time he saw Patrick was when he dropped his brother off at the bus station in Regina.
Patrick never boarded that bus out of Regina, and subsequent investigation would prove he died on or about Sept. 3, 1997. From that point, the case went cold until a major break on Dec. 3, 2020 when Patrick’s remains were discovered. Joseph was later arrested, charged with first-degree murder and offering an indignity to a body, then spent some time in custody before being granted bail in July of 2021.
A voir dire trial took place earlier this spring, which included a publication ban on evidence presented. At the start of that trial, the election was for judge and jury to hear the trial proper, but during the voir dire proceedings, that election changed to judge alone. This changed matters somewhat, as information the Crown submitted as an agreed statement of facts – including those derived from the voir dire -were now part of the main trial.
After some discussion on June 6, a small portion of evidence was deemed still covered by the ban – names of certain individuals and information that might lead to their identity.
The trial is scheduled to proceed over the next four weeks.
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