One of five accused in 2018 gang-related murder to plead guilty this week, judge told

Photo: RCMP

Darian Rohel

One of five accused charged in connection with the gang-related murder of a Kamloops man in 2018 will plead guilty, a judge has been told.

Darian Rohel is facing one count of manslaughter connected to the death of Troy Gold, who vanished in October of 2018. His remains were found weeks later in the Lac du Bois area north of the city.

Gold, 35, is believed to have been active in the city’s drug trade. Rohel, 46, is a convicted drug dealer currently serving a 3.5-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.

In 2019, Mounties arrested Rohel, Nathan Townsend, Jayden Eustache, Sean Scurt and John Daviss in connection with Gold's death. Each of the accused were initially charged with second-degree murder, though charges were eventually reduced to manslaughter for all but Eustache.

During a brief hearing in B.C. Supreme Court on Monday, a judge was told Rohel would plead guilty on Wednesday.

Details of the circumstances of Rohel’s alleged part in Gold’s death will not be made public this week, however. Two separate jury trials are expected to begin in the coming months for the four remaining accused — Daviss and Scurt are expected to stand trial in October, with Eustache and Townsend to follow in January.

Gold’s murder was the first in a series of bloody gang-related incidents in Kamloops spanning a five-month period in late 2018 and early 2019 that saw four people slain and others injured.

Kamloops RCMP Supt. Syd Lecky has described the investigation into Gold’s death as the most complex ever undertaken by police in the city.