Grieving Okanagan family angered by murder trial moving to Kamloops

A year and a half after Tatjana Stefanski was found dead on a forestry road outside of Lumby, B.C., in the North Okanagan, her partner’s grief is being compounded by anger.

“We’re given zero rights, zero rights, and it’s absolutely disgusting,” said Jason Gaudreault.

Gaudreault is upset that the murder trial for the man accused of killing Tatjana Stefanski is being moved from Vernon to Kamloops.

“None of this was discussed with us, the direct family with Tatjana, on what our what our feelings were about this,” said Gaudreault.

The accused in the case is Vitali Stefanski, Tatjana’s ex-husband.

He is charged with second-degree murder and awaiting a trial, which has been scheduled for spring 2026.

“I’ve been at almost every single hearing that I could attend…this is closure for me,” Gaudreault said.

“This is why I wanted to be at the courthouse and now they’re going to make it really hard on me.”

Gaudreault, who has guardianship of Tatjana’s two children, said it feels like the system favours the rights of those accused of committing crime, instead of the victims.

“That, to me, is just another slap in the face,” he said.

A three-hour round trip to Kamloops every day, Gaudreault said, will impact a business he worked hard to rebuild following the murder.

“They could go back and forth for an hour and say, OK, we’re going to be be adjourned for the day and we’ll come back in another day or so,” he said. “Who knows? Right? So I could do a three-hour round trip for 20 minutes.”

The change of venue request was granted in Vernon court on Nov. 26.

Defence lawyer Tony Lagemaat  successfully argued that moving the trial to Kamloops would ensure trial fairness for his client, who’s in pre-trial custody at the Kamloops Correctional Centre, where he’ll have access to his laptop.

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Lagemaat said if the trial was held in Vernon, Vitali would be held at the Vernon RCMP detachment, where he would not be able to have his laptop.

“He currently has a hard drive with all of his disclosure on it and quite often, something will happen in the day at trial that I’ll want him to review on his hard drive that evening,” Lagemaat said. “That would be impossible if he’s in RCMP cells.”

The trial is scheduled to start on May 25 and estimated to take five weeks.

“It was a balancing act between the community’s right to hear the trial and Mr. Stefanski’s right to a fair trial,” Lagemaat told Global News. “And really, from Vernon to Kamloops, the community can still attend.”

Gaudreault said it won’t be that easy for him but he’ll do whatever it takes as he seeks justice for his loved one.

“It’s just adding more stress, more stress,” Gaudreault said.