Man accused of human trafficking has prior robbery conviction

One of two men charged last week with human trafficking offences in Saskatoon was sentenced in 2017 for breaking into a home and then, hours later, using a machete to rob a woman.

Brayden Vincent Reimer, 23, was arrested on July 2 and charged with human trafficking, material benefit (trafficking), two counts of uttering threats, theft under $5,000, breach of his release order and breach of his conditional sentence order. He is charged alongside Stephen Simon Kola, 30, who faces charges of human trafficking, uttering threats and two counts of breaching his release order.

The men’s charges were spoken to on Tuesday in Saskatoon provincial court. Reimer remains in custody and is scheduled to return to court on Thursday, while Kola was released and is scheduled to appear on Aug. 11.

Police were called out on June 29 to the 200 block of Willis Crescent in Stonebridge, where a 23-yearold woman with minor injuries said she was being confined, according to a news release.

Reimer and Kola were arrested three days later in the 1500 block of Reyner Avenue in Sutherland.

A publication ban on the woman’s identity was ordered during the men’s first appearances on Friday, Crown prosecutor Dan Dahl confirmed.

In March 2017, when he was 20 years old, Reimer was sentenced in Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench to 18 months in jail for using a machete to rob a woman on Eighth Street on Oct. 10, 2015. He also pleaded guilty to breaking into a home in the Rosewood neighbourhood earlier that morning and received a one-year concurrent sentence.

Reimer was put on probation for a further 18 months, where one of his conditions prohibited him from consuming drugs and alcohol. Court heard he was using crystal methamphetamine at the time of the offences but had recently become “drug free.”

In the criminal code, human trafficking is defined as “Every person who recruits, transports, transfers, receives, holds, conceals or harbours a person, or exercises control, direction or influence over the movements of a person, for the purpose of exploiting them or facilitating their exploitation.”

Material benefit (trafficking) is defined as anyone who benefits, financially or otherwise, from the offence of human trafficking.