A CTV cameraman and a freelance photographer were attacked outside a Vernon courthouse Wednesday by supporters of the Cherryville, B.C. father facing charges in Taylor Van Diest's murder.
The assault came after 58-year-old Stephen Roy Foerster made his first court appearance via video feed on charges of obstructing justice and being an accessory to murder in the 18-year-old Armstrong girl's death last Halloween.
The accused's wife Deb was escorted out of court by an unidentified man, who charged at CTV cameraman Curtis Allen and pushed him after members of the media approached the pair to comment on the case.
Video footage of the confrontation also shows Deb Foerster apparently pummelling the still photographer with her hands and purse before being shuffled off by her associate.
The photographer walked away from the attack with a cut hand, but neither he nor Allen was seriously injured and they do not plan to press charges.
The Foersters' 26-year-old son Matthew has also been charged in Van Diest's murder, and faces separate counts in connection with two other attacks on women in the Okanagan dating back to 2004.
He appeared in a Kelowna courtroom Tuesday on half a dozen charges, including second-degree murder, sex assault, assault with a weapon and unlawful confinement.
Van Diest was found unconscious and fatally wounded in the bushes near the railroad tracks that run through Armstrong on the evening of Oct. 31, 2011, and died a short time later in hospital. An autopsy was performed, but police never released the cause of death.
More than five months later, police arrested the younger Foerster at a Collingwood, Ont. motel. Video of his return to B.C. has been released by the RCMP and can be seen here. His father was picked up the same day at his home in Cherryville.
Stephen Foerster is scheduled to appear in court again next week.
