An 18-year-old charged in the hit-and-run deaths of a doctor and his fiancée appeared briefly in a Vancouver courtroom yesterday.
Kurtis William Rock is charged with eight counts, including impaired driving and theft over $5,000, stemming from an alleged hit-and-run Saturday that killed Aneez Mohamed, 31, and fiancée Chanelle Morgan, 25.
Rock, who has short black hair, wore a corrections-issue red sweatshirt during his brief appearance yesterday in Vancouver provincial court.
He will remain in custody through the weekend and is back in court Monday.
“The only way to describe the incident is an absolute tragedy,” Rock’s lawyer, Matthew Nathanson, said outside the courthouse.
“People are dismayed by what has happened.”
Nathanson said the attention the case has garnered is understandable given its nature, but “it doesn’t affect how we deal with the case.”
He said the case would be tried in court, not in public, and would not comment on the condition of his client.
Mohamed and Morgan were crossing Fourth Avenue near the entrance to Granville Island when they were struck by a Buick SUV.
The couple, who had recently become engaged, were thrown several metres and died at the scene.
Police said a suspect fled on foot and was caught by a police dog while trying to jump into False Creek.
