Judge doesn’t accept Corner Brook man’s excuses

A provincial court judge in Corner Brook was having none of the excuses a man charged with three break and enters in the city had for not yet applying for a lawyer when he appeared before her on Tuesday morning.

After being informed by Legal Aid lawyer Peter Chaffey that Patrick Sheppard intended to apply for legal aid, but hadn’t done so yet, Judge Kymil Howe asked him why.

Sheppard, 22, replied that he was staying close to home due to a court-imposed curfew and didn’t have the means to get to the office.

He also told the judge that he was working at times on roofing jobs.

That prompted Howe to tell him if he was healthy enough to climb roofs, he was healthy enough to walk to the Legal Aid office. And she advised him to go there after he left court.

She did, however, set Sheppard’s next court appearance to Aug. 8 to give him time to make the application.

Sheppard is one of four people charged with breaking into Metal Specialty Limited and Brook Enterprises on Gullage Avenue and the Royal Canadian Legion on West Street on June 18.

One of his co-accused, Tyler Baldwin, is scheduled to appear in court on July 25. The other two are young offenders.