A B.C. Supreme Court trial for two men facing several charges, including attempted murder, in relation to a home invasion slightly more than a year ago ended Monday with stays of proceedings on all counts.
Julien Naseem Abdala Yasin Lazarre and Thomas Joshua Toman had been facing six charges from the Dec. 16, 2017 incident.
Stays of proceedings are issued whenever it's determined there is not enough evidence to achieve a conviction.
Although most matters that have been stayed are not reopened, Crown counsel can, within certain limits, restart the proceedings. The time limit is six months for summary matters and a year for indictable matters.
The decision came following a five-day trial last week.
On the day of the incident, police were called at about 5:30 a.m. to a report of someone being shot during a home invasion at a 1300-block Strathcona Avenue residence.
Police subsequently arrested Lazarre after converging on a 2200 block Oak Street home and Toman was apprehended eight days later.
The victim, who is known to police, suffered non-life-threatening but serious injuries in a targeted attack, RCMP said at the time.
Along with one count each of attempted murder, the two had also been facing counts of aggravated assault, committing a robbery where a firearm is used, breaking into a home and committing an offence, using a firearm in an indictable offence and disguising one's face with intent to commit an offence.
The two had remained in custody since their arrests.
