First-degree murder charge sought at trial

The prosecution will seek a committal to stand trial for first-degree murder in the slaying of a Calgary woman who died along with her daughter last spring. Crown lawyer Doug Taylor told provincial court Judge Terry Semenuk on Monday that while Robert Leeming faces two charges of second-degree murder, he will ask that one be upped to the more serious charge. Leeming is charged in connection with the deaths of Jasmine Lovett, 25, and her 22-month-old daughter, Aliyah Sanderson. Taylor said that at the conclusion of Leeming’s scheduled twoweek preliminary inquiry next week, he will ask that the accused be ordered to stand trial for first-degree murder in Lovett’s killing. A charge of first-degree murder in this case would have to involve a planned and deliberate intentional killing, or one committed in the course of a list of other offences including unlawful confinement, or criminal harassment. The prosecution began calling witnesses before Semenuk to determine if there is sufficient evidence to send the case to trial before a jury. At defence lawyer Balfour Der’s request, the judge imposed a publication ban on the evidence being presented in court by Taylor and co-prosecutor Sonya Bertrand. Lovett and Aliyah were reported missing last April 23, a week after they’d last been seen. Their bodies were found May 6 in a heavily-wooded area at Grizzly Creek in Kananaskis Country, about 87 kilometres west of Calgary. Taylor and Bertrand are expected to call about 15 witnesses during the hearing. Leeming remains in police custody pending a resolution to the case.