Sex assault case adjourned to Aug.22

A 49-year-old Raymond man accused of a number of decades-old sex offences had his case adjourned at the Lethbridge Courthouse on Wednesday until Aug. 22.

The accused, who can’t be identified because he was a minor teenager at the time of some of the alleged offences, pleaded not guilty last week to six charges, which will be tried in youth court. He previously elected to be tried by a Court of Queen’s Bench judge on four adult charges — one count of sexual interference and three counts of sexual assault — which are set for a three-day preliminary hearing in November.

The accused had been expected to set a pre-trial court date on his youth charges Wednesday, but requested more time to prepare his defence.

At the accused’s previous appearance on July 11, Lethbridge lawyer Bob Bissett had hoped to have a preliminary hearing for the youth charges, but Judge Derek Redman ruled legislation does not permit such a hearing for youth court matters.

Defence had also hoped, should the accused be found guilty of the youth charges, to have him sentenced under the former Juvenile Delinquents Act or the Young Offenders Act, which were in effect at the time of the alleged 30-year-old offences. But Redman said it would be premature to determine, if necessary, under which Act the man would be sentenced before a trial has concluded.

The Crown argues the accused should be sentenced under the current Youth Criminal Justice Act.

In January, RCMP charged the accused following the allegations of sexual assaults in the 1980s and 1990s. Police reported that in September 2016 they were contacted by a woman who said she had been sexually abused as a child by a man known to her. The Picture Butte RCMP began an investigation into the allegations and three additional women came forward to report they had also been assaulted.

- With files from Delon Shurtz