The man charged in a stabbing at the Shambhala Music Festival this year will return to court next month to indicate how he’d like to be tried.
Taio Forest Cote, who was born in 2000, was charged with aggravated assault and assault with a weapon following the incident on July 22.
He appeared in court this week in Nelson and will return Jan. 17 to decide whether his case will be heard by a judge alone or a judge and jury.
Although police initially described the injuries as non-life-threatening, the victim’s mother tells Vista Radio her son was stabbed in the neck and nearly died in a “random act of violence” that the family continues to suffer from.
And while police said Cote knew the victim, the mother says they only knew each other as children in school and were not friends.
Cote was released on conditions.