Nathan Gervais arrested overseas, returned to Canada to face 1st-degree murder charge
Sarah Rieger | CBC News | Posted: February 10, 2018 12:54 AM | Last Updated: February 11, 2018
Fled to Vietnam while on bail, awaiting trial in 2013 death of Lukas Strasser-Hird
A Calgary man is being transported back to Canada to face a first-degree murder charge, after fleeing overseas to Vietnam.
Nathan Paul Gervais fled Calgary while on bail pending trial and a Canada-wide warrant was issued for his arrest. He was returned to Canada from Vietnam on Friday, police said in a release.
Upon re-entering Canada, he was arrested by Calgary police, who said he'll be returned to Calgary next week.
On Saturday, Gervais appeared before an Ontario justice of the peace in relation to his Canada-wide warrants, police said in a release.
Alberta prosecutors and police had been liaising with foreign officials to locate and repatriate Gervais.
He was supposed to be under 24-hour house arrest, but when police checked on him on April 16, 2016, the then 21-year-old was nowhere to be found.
The Crown prosecutor's office said that as the case is currently being reviewed, it is unable to comment at this time.
Lukas Strasser-Hird, 18, died after he was swarmed and stabbed in an alley at Second Street and 10th Avenue S.W. in Calgary in 2013.
Evidence presented at trial suggested the fight followed a confrontation at a nearby nightclub, where Strasser-Hird spoke out after another man referred to the bouncer with a racial slur.
Gervais was set to be tried along with four other young men, three of which — Franz Cabrera, Assmar Shlah and Joch Pouk — were later convicted in Strasser-Hird's death.
Cabrera and Shlah were found guilty of second-degree murder, while Pouk was found guilty of manslaughter.
Police thanked the Ministry of Public Security of Vietnam for its co-operation on the case, as well as the RCMP, Interpol and the Canada Border Services Agency.