House Arrest for Splinter As A Condition of Bail

Jemma Doorelyers | Nov 30, 2024

Matthew Splinter, 44, the operator of the speed boat that killed Juliette Cote (22), Riley Orr (23) and Kaila Bearman (21) in May 2024,  was released on bail Friday evening after spending a month in custody. 

Splinter was arrested on October 29, 2024, and has been in custody since. On Friday, November 29, 2024, he appeared in a Kingston courtroom for a bail hearing that went on for nearly nine hours, where he was granted bail by a justice of the peace while he awaits his trial. 

He is released on a two-surety plan. His brother, Joseph Splinter has pledged $75,000 and his girlfriend, Sarah Hood, pledged $10,000 to ensure that he upholds the conditions of his bail. Matthew Splinter was also ordered to pledge $1000 on his own behalf.  

The conditions of Splinter’s bail are as follows: 

1. Splinter has been ordered not to leave the 17-acre property that he and Hood live on unless he needs medical attention, to meet with legal counsel or to attend counselling of any kind. Counselling was not ordered by the court. 
2. He has been ordered not to have care or control of a conveyance of any kind including vehicles, snowmobiles, ATVs or vessels of any kind. 
3. He was given a non-communication order against 116 people. 

This conclusion was made after the judge determined that Hood and Splinter were acceptable sureties and that Splinter was not a threat to the public’s safety while he awaits trial.

The rest of the hearing was protected by a publication ban. 

The collision happened on May 18, 2024, shortly after 9:30 pm when Splinter’s speedboat collided with a fishing boat in the Buck Bay area of Bob’s Lake. Orr, Cote and Bearman were pronounced dead on the scene and five other people involved in the incident were taken to hospital with injuries. 

In October, Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced that Splinter had been arrested and charged him with a total of 12 criminal offences. 

The charges include three counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing death, three counts of dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm, three counts of impaired operation causing death and three counts of impaired operation causing bodily harm. These charges have not been proven. 

January 16, 2025 is the next time Splinter will appear before court.