Media Releases

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Created: 27 November 2024

Amherst Police Department

The Amherst Police Department has made an arrest and laid a charge of sexual assault against a "holistic practitioner" operating in Amherst, Nova Scotia.

Mangala Ranasinghe, aged 59 years old, who operates “Healing Touch Holistic” located in Amherst Nova Scotia was arrested on November 27th 2024 after the Amherst Police Major Crime Unit, with the assistance of the Patrol Section, executed a search warrant at that location. The investigation was initiated after Amherst Police received a complaint from an adult female that she had allegedly been sexually assaulted during a visit to the location in October 2024.

Sexual assault is any touching of another person without their consent where the touching is of a sexual nature, or where the sexual integrity of the victim is violated. A sexual assault can range from unwanted touching to sexual assault involving penetration.

There is no statute of limitation when it comes to reporting a sexual assault. This means that no matter how long ago the sexual assault happened, you can still report it to police for investigation.

Ranasinghe was arrested, held in custody and is expected to appear in court later on November 28th, 2024.

Anyone with information related to this incident or similar incidents is asked to contact the Amherst Police Department at 902-667-8600 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

APD Media Contact:
Cpl. Tom Wood
902-667-8600
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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Created: 26 November 2024

Deputy Mayor

Councillor Hal Davidson was elected deputy mayor of the Town of Amherst at Monday’s council meeting. Davidson, who was first elected to council in 2020 and re-elected in October 2024, will serve a one-year term.

Council Committee Appointments

Following a municipal election, Mayor and members of Council must be formally appointed to a number of committees. All members of Council are appointed to the Committee of the Whole of Amherst Town Council, as well as the Amherst Audit Committee. The following appointments were also approved by a motion of Council, effective November 25, 2024, and expiring on October 31, 2025 (unless otherwise noted):

Mayor Small: GFL Community Liaison Committee; Regional Emergency Management; and, Tyndal Wellfield Advisory Committee.

Councillor Chambers: Amherst Board of Police Commissioners (expiring October 31, 2027); Planning Advisory Committee; and, YMCA Board of Directors.

Councillor Davidson: Amherst Board of Police Commissioners (expiring October 31, 2026); and, Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee.

Councillor Furlong: Amherst Board of Police Commissioners (expiring October 31, 2027); Northern Region Solid Waste Committee; and, Regional Emergency Management.

Councillor McManaman: Accessibility Advisory Committee; Cumberland Public Libraries Board; Planning Advisory Committee; and, Tyndal Wellfield Advisory Committee.

Councillor Ripley: Intermunicipal Tourism Committee; and, Planning Advisory Committee.

Councillor Wells: Accessibility Advisory Committee; Inclusion, Diversity and Equity Committee; and, Senior Safety Advisory Committee.

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Created: 13 November 2024

Amherst Police Department

A 30-year-old male has been taken into custody in regards to break and enters that occurred on November 12th, 2024 in the Queen Street/Albion Street Area.

Police had been called to the area at approximately 5:46pm when 2 subsequent calls regarding a suspect breaking into residences in the Queen Street area were received. In one instance, the suspect allegedly broke into a residence by crawling through a window he had smashed out. The suspect was in possession of a knife and was confronted by occupants. The suspect fled the residence through the rear entrance and towards another residence where he allegedly smashed in another window and crawled inside where he was again confronted by the occupants. He fled the scene and was met on the street by responding police officers. The accused dropped the weapon and was taken into custody without further incident. He was taken to the hospital and treated for his injuries and then into police cells for the night.

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Created: 07 November 2024

CTV News Atlantic covered our memorial crosswalks in a recent story: Crosswalks comemorate veterans. 

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Downtown Amherst features new memorial artwork in three of its crosswalks, all honouring the town’s veterans.

“This is Veterans’ Week, and Remembrance Day is this coming Monday, so we wanted to do something special to respectfully celebrate our veterans,” said Amherst Mayor Rob Small. “We’ve received a lot of interest recently from citizens who wanted to see us paint these memorial crosswalks – so, that’s exactly what we’re doing today.”

For the last few years, the Town has been working hard to grow its relationship with the Royal Canadian Legion’s Amherst branch, and the two organizations have partnered on a number of projects including the Afghanistan war memorial, as well as Remembrance Day and D-Day ceremonies.

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Created: 01 November 2024

During a special ceremony on the evening of October 30, Amherst’s Mayor and Councillors swore their oaths of office and accepted the code of conduct, thereby officially taking the seats of their elected positions.

Amherst's Mayor Robert Small (left) was joined on stage by Councillors Charlie Chambers, Hal Davidson, Nic Furlong, Terry McManaman, Dwayne Ripley, and Kathy Wells – having each just sworn the oath of office at a special event on October 30, 2024.

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Created: 19 October 2024

Amherst’s municipal election saw 15 candidates vying for a seat at the table. With the success of two previous alternative voting elections (2020 and 2023), Amherst once again provided exclusive telephone or internet voting with no paper ballot option.

Intelivote Systems Inc of Dartmouth NS was our provider and advance voting opened on October 10th and ran through to the close of polls at 7pm on October 19^th.

After 10 days of polling, the results are in for Amherst’s 2024 municipal election:

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