Ismail Charanek : “Murder Suspect in Missing Person Case”

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What began as a missing person investigation turned into a murder arrest for a Calgary police constable, court heard Tuesday.

Const. Lesley Wallace said she had gone to a residence in the city’s southwest, a more than 20-kilometre drive from a recent homicide scene, the morning of Sept. 23, 2020.

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Wallace told Crown prosecutor Tiffany Dwyer she was looking for a male who was reported missing by his Saskatoon family who may have had mental health issues.

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But as she and two other officers approached the Patterson Hill S.W. home they noticed a male, wearing a ball cap, sunglasses and a COVID mask, in the yard.

“We asked for his identification,” Wallace testified.

“We wanted to rule out whether he was, or was not, the person we were looking for.”

The officer said the individual, later identified as Eddy Nakasenh-Bandasak, was initially reluctant to provide any identification, but eventually capitulated.

His driver’s licence provided the first name Eddy and a hyphenated last name which “was long and … hard to decipher.”

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It was only after the individual left that Wallace recalled a police bulletin she had read that morning about an individual named Eddy with a hyphenated surname being sought in connection with a fatal stabbing in the city’s southeast.

“Homicide was looking for a male in a Lynnview homicide,” she said.

“It occurred to me this could be the same person.”

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In Wallace’s body-worn camera footage, played before Court of King’s Bench Justice Nancy Dilts, the officer could be heard telling her fellow officers about her suspicion.

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“The roommate that everybody’s looking for? Is that the f—— guy?” she asked after Nakasenh-Bandasak left the area.

About two hours later a resident in the home where police went to search for the missing Saskatoon man reported Nakasenh-Bandasak was on a pathway between two of the homes.

Wallace then arrested the accused without incident.

Nakasenh-Bandasak is charged with second-degree murder in the Sept. 22, 2020, stabbing death of his roommate, Ismail Charanek. He has pleaded not guilty.

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Defence questions validity of arrest

Defence counsel Mary Stephensen is challenging the validity of her client’s arrest by police and will ask Dilts to rule inadmissible any statements he made following his detention.

In cross-examination, Stephensen questioned the need to insist Nakasenh-Bandasak provide identification to police considering one officer described the missing man as being 5 ft. 10 to 11 in. tall.

“I’m going to suggest to you the accused is only 5 ft. 5 in. tall,” Stephensen said.

The lawyer asked Wallace what lawful authority she had to insist her client provide identification.

“I was just trying to determine he was not the missing person who may have been in some sort of medical distress,” the officer said.

The trial, before Dilts sitting without a jury, continues on Wednesday.

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