A New Zealand hang-gliding pilot, charged in connection with the death of a young woman who fell to her death while on a tandem sky dive with him in Canada, has been handed his trial date.
William "Jon" Orders, 50, is charged with obstructing the course of justice after swallowing a camera memory card which could show the moments before Lenami Godinez-Avila, 27, plunged 300 metres to her death in British Columbia in April.
Orders will stand trial in Vancouver in April next year, the Vancouver Sun reported.
Ms Godinez-Avila was tandem hang-gliding with Orders - who has over 16 years industry experience - when she became detached over Mount Woodside, about 100km east of Vancouver.
The hang-gliding trip had been bought as an anniversary trip by Ms Godinez-Avila's boyfriend who watched helplessly from the ground as she fell.
Ms Godinez-Avila tried to grab Orders' leg before she fell, witnesses said.
Orders said the "overwhelming stress" of Ms Godinez-Avila's fall had caused him to panic and swallow the memory card - an act he quickly confessed to police.
"I would like to apologise to Lenami's family, to the police and the public for my panicked action of swallowing the memory card as I did," he told media at a press conference in May.
"Every day my thoughts go out to how Lenami's family and friends must be feeling."
Orders was held by police for a number of days after the incident as they waited for the memory card to pass through his digestive system.
Police are still trying to recover evidence from it.
NZN