P.E.I.’s chief Crown prosecutor has confirmed that charges against Alan Wood have been stayed after the Provincial Correctional Centre inmate died at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Thursday, Oct. 31.
That was less than a week after two seniors were attacked in their Stratford homes and a convenience store employee was assaulted at work, leading to Wood being arrested and charged. Wood was charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count each of assault and uttering threats.
The 60-year-old man had been due back in court on Oct. 30, but had already been admitted to hospital by that time, having been taken there by ambulance. He was intubated and admitted to the QEH’s intensive care unit.
His case was then scheduled to be addressed on Nov. 4, but that did not happen.
“I understand Alan Wood has passed away at QEH, and as a result, the Crown has stayed the … matters,” John Diamond, the province’s director of prosecutions, confirmed in an email to CBC News on Tuesday.
When Wood first appeared in court by video link on Monday, Oct. 28, he was in restraints and appeared agitated, at times shouting incoherently.
RCMP media relations officer Cpl. Gavin Moore said on Nov. 1 that police do not suspect foul play in the inmate’s death. (Tony Davis/CBC)
RCMP had earlier announced the Oct. 31 death of an inmate from the Provincial Correctional Centre, but would not release that person’s identity.
“There is no evidence of any foul play with regards to this death,” Cpl. Gavin Moore, the RCMP’s media relations officer for the Island, said at the time.
The RCMP are called in to investigate on behalf of the provincial coroner’s office whenever there’s a death involving an inmate at a corrections facility.