Co-accuseds in November murder make brief appearance

Two men charged with second-degree murder following a homicide in November in Crescent Heights had brief court appearances Tuesday.

Aaron Raj Anand-Ford appeared by CCTV from the Calgary Remand Centre, with his matters adjourned to May 30, as defence counsel and the Crown prepare to set down dates for a pretrial conference and preliminary hearing.

Anand-Ford’s co-accused, Jacob Porfoun, also made a brief appearance by CCTV from the remand centre, with his matters also adjourned to May 30. As the two are jointly charged, their court dates have to remain together — although there is the chance these charges will be severed so they can be tried separately.

Both were charged following the death of 24-year-old Dustin Edward Hewer in the early morning of Nov. 5 in Crescent Heights. Both remain in custody.

Fraud

A 60-day sentence was handed down to a Medicine Hat man for possessing a stolen credit card, fraud and theft under $5,000.

Cody Perini entered guilty pleas to the charges that stem back to earlier this month.

In one incident, police received a complaint of theft from a motor vehicle, including that a credit card was stolen. The use of the credit card was tracked to various locations, where Perini was identified buying multiple prepaid visa cards, and ultimately arrested. Perini was arrested following a May 5 incident where he stole a credit card reader from the customer service desk at the Medicine Hat Mall.

Of the 60 days global sentence, 26 is considered already served due to pretrial custody.