A former corrections officer captured on security cameras escorting a notorious gangster out of a maximum-security jail must wait until August before being sentenced in the B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
Edwin Ticne pleaded guilty to charges of obstruction of justice and accepting a bribe after he helped inmate Omid Tahvili escape from the North Fraser Pretrial Centre in November 2007.
Ticne, a corrections officer for more than 10 years, could face up to five years in confinement when he is sentenced. But on Wednesday, legal arguments dragged on for so long, the judge decided to postpone his sentencing until August 8.
In the B.C. Corrections-issued surveillance video obtained by CTV News, a jail guard passes through a remotely-controlled door and a man dressed as a cleaner follows behind him.
The video footage follows Tahvilli, who was dressed in the janitor's uniform, as he crosses the parking lot outside of the maximum-security jail. He remains at large.
At the time of his escape, Tahvilli was awaiting sentencing on various charges including sexual assault, kidnapping and unlawful confinement. He has since been sentenced in absentia to 11 years in prison.
The prison's doors are remotely controlled from a security checkpoint in the jail, according to security expert Leo Knight. Someone else, possibly another guard, would have had to engage and disengage the locks on the doors Tahvilli passed through, he said.
B.C. Corrections says it has conducted an internal investigation but the results have not been released.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Lisa Rossington
