Koester Took Time to Make Statement on Shooting of Ian Bush

By 250 News

RCMP Corporal Rich Murray, the lead investigator in the shooting death of Ian Bush at the RCMP detachment  in  Houston, told a Coroner’s inquest today that Constable Paul Koester refused to re-enact the fight and the subsequent shooting of Bush because he could not remember all of the events correctly.

Koester also refused to have his statement to police either recorded or video taped on instructions from his lawyer.

Despite repeated attempts to get him to give a statement to police, on the instructions of his lawyer, no statement was immediately forthcoming. The reasons varied from his mother telling the investigators that Paul was not up to it, or Koester was unable to put proper words together much less statements as he rested at his family’s home in Kamloops.

Under questioning by Howard Rubin, the Bush family’s lawyer,  Corporal Murray told the jury that his department, (Major Crimes) submitted the questions to Koester’s lawyer and from those questions the draft statement was built.

Promises where made that Koester would be available to make a statement and then when police did arrive at the lawyer’s office they did not examine the statement written up by Koester. They said they wanted to take their own,"pure" statement on the matter. That draft statement was later destroyed and what it contained is not known.

Koester’s lawyer advised the police that he would not allow his client to give a “pure “statement and the matter dragged on. The lawyer, Brian Gilson of Prince George, also said he would not allow Koester to take part in a reconstruction of events.

Rubin asked, "Do you always give a list of questions to the person you are getting a statement from, did you negotiate what questions would be asked?". Murray told the jury that ten police officers and numerous others had investigated Ian Bush’s death

While Constable Paul Koester did not make an immediate statement to police, the young people who were with Bush at the arena said that was not the case with them.

In at least two instances, police took statements from them the day following the shooting. Others in the group were asked and gave statements in the following few days.

At the same time, Coroner Shane DeMeyer said he would not allow the security officer at the Houston arena to appear and give her testimony as to the demeanor of Constable Darren Woroshelo the night of the shooting.

Woroshelo was Koester’s senior officer.

The security chief of the Houston arena has said that Woroshelo came into the arena the night of the shooting all red, with his neck bulging at the collar .She says that he yelled at her to a point where she found it necessary to take the next morning off from work.

The Coroner said that he believed her evidence would be of little value to the jury.

The picture that has emerged at the inquest is that several of Bush’s friends had gathered at an apartment near the arena, had a few drinks and went over to the game. They went back to the apartment during the second period and removed the beer they had there moving it to their vehicles after the land lady had complained of the noise they were making going up and down the stairs.

Bush had about three to four beers they say, he didn’t want to drink more because he said he had heart burn.

Robert Tobin, who resided at the apartment in question, told the jury that Bush was not drunk. "He was not sober," as Tobin puts it, "but he was in no way drunk."

On October 29th, 2005 Ian Bush was  found to have an open beer outside the arena, and was arrested for failing to give his proper name.  He was  handcuffed, taken to the detachment, and  within half  an hour, he had been shot in the back of the head, and lay dead in the interview room of the Houston detachment.

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