‘Sexual assault mistrial aoe lg to family member | THE NIECE of a man who went missing before the ver- dict in his sexual assault trial - could be released says she’s satisified the B.C. Supreme: Court justice who heard the case subsequently declared a mistrial. » Rhonda ‘Peal wants her uncle, Randolph Peal, - found. And because of the mis- « trail, she says her uncle re- mains not guilty of the al- ~ legations which were -the . subject of a Terrace trial. ’ Randolph Peal, who is ' from the Nass Valley but who had been Prince George, did not show up for a video appearance Feb. 2 of. this year so the verdict could be read out in a Terrace courtroom. He was officially reported _missing Feb. 4 by his farnily © ° and there has béen' no con= ” tact or sighting of him since then. It also meant Peal’s court case went into: limbo be- . Cause verdicts are not read - unless the accused person i is : present. Mr.. Justice Tan Pitfield of the B.C. Supreme Court, who heard the case, issued a bench warrant for Mr. Peal. after he ‘did not appear to - hear the verdict.” He then declared a mis- trial this fall although the Crown counsel who tried Randolph and members of his family asked that the ver- dict be read. . The mistrial means that a . trial i is declared null and that ' an accused needs’ to be tried | all over again.., . “Initially I ‘was upset with the mistrial,” said niece. . Rhonda Peal. “You always: wish for the not guilty ver- dict. But now I’m satisfied with it. When we: got the training. the skills the 2001 level. student debts. their skills. living in”: Prince George bridge cross- REALITY CHECK | Weneed to close ‘| the skills gap oo Only 59% of our workforce has post-secondary education, yet the BC Business Council says 73% of all new jobs will require post-secondary education and But we're making it harder to get Since 2001, average tuition _ fees have jumped by 98%. Average student debt in BC has climbed from 1° $18,000 in 1999 to almost ‘|. $25,000 currently. Provincial | funding needs to increase by $200 million just to bring per-student funding back to | POSTSECONDARY | EDUCATORS HAVE SOLUTIONS & Reinstate the BC Student Grant Program to help lower Reduce tuition fees for students to make post-secondary education more affordable. ll Make adult basic education - (ABE) tuition-free to encourage adult learners to upgrade - Increase per-student funding of public post-secondary institutions to at least 2001 levels. Randolph Peal mistrial there was no ver- dict.” ~ Just as important to Peal is knowing the accused won't get a verdict either. “She won’t get the satis- ' faction,” said Peal. Peal’s convinced young people.” - POST-SECONDARY EDUCATION ‘BETTER FUNDING. BETTER. FUTURES. J VISIT OUR WEBSITE WWW.FPSE.CA Check out our site or call 638-7283 for advertising intormation — a TO SEND A MESSAGE TO PREMIER CAMPBELL a Benes wre women -!