Still no trial dates in the 2017 Surrey murder case

Nearly seven years have passed since Nicholas Khabra was shot and killed in a South Surrey home, and there is still no trial in sight for the man accused of his murder.

Ann Seymour, communications counsel for the British Columbia Attorney General's Office, confirmed on Tuesday (August 20) that no new dates have been set for the trial of Brandon Nathan Teixeira, as it was last adjourned to July 2023.

The trial was scheduled to begin in September last year but was postponed “pending the resolution of outstanding pre-trial motions,” Seymour said.

Seymour noted that there had been 103 pre-trial motions in the case – including at least one that was heard this week in the Supreme Court of British Columbia in New Westminster – but said such a volume was “not unusual for cases of this magnitude.”

Officials with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team announced in September 2018 that police were searching for Teixeira in connection with Khabra's death. The 28-year-old was found with fatal gunshot wounds in the early morning hours of October 23, 2017, when police rushed to a residence in the 14300 block of Crescent Road after a report of shots fired.

Teixeira was ultimately charged with first-degree murder in connection with the incident. He also faces attempted murder and discharging a firearm with intent to injure or disfigure in connection with gunshot wounds suffered that same morning by a young woman who reportedly drove a short distance from the scene herself and called 911. Police said at the time they believed the 24-year-old woman was with Khabra when the shooting occurred.

After a series of public appeals, warnings and manhunts – including one in September 2018 in the Country Woods neighborhood of South Surrey – Teixeira was arrested in California in December 2019 after an anonymous tip alerted U.S. authorities to a residence in Oroville, a small city about 100 kilometers north of Sacramento.

Teixeira did not surrender quietly and is said to have made violent attempts to evade arrest.

US court documents – obtained by Peace Arch News Within days of Teixeira's arrest, they claim Khabra's death was motivated by revenge and a $160,000 bounty.

Teixeira was extradited to Canada in late April 2020.

The trial dates were initially scheduled for July 2022 to January 2023.

Seymour said Thursday (August 22) that she could not speculate on when new trial dates would be set.