NORTH BATTLEFORD – Thirty-five-year-old Charmaine Brett Bear is headed to trial on child abuse and neglect charges after Senior Crown Prosecutor Jennifer Schmidt filed a direct indictment against her in North Battleford Provincial Court.
This means that the preliminary hearing previously scheduled for March won’t be necessary. A preliminary hearing is an evidentiary hearing that is held before a trial. Direct indictments occur in circumstances involving serious violations of the law and where it is the public interest to do so.
Bear is charged with failing to provide the necessities of life, criminal negligence causing bodily harm, aggravated assault, two counts of assault, and two counts of uttering threats.
She has been in custody since she was arrested in Calgary, Alta., in May 2022 without incident and brought back to Saskatchewan. She was wanted by police for 15 months.
Charmaine Bear’s co-accused, 35-year-old Lyle Aaron Bear, is also headed to trial on charges of failing to provide the necessities of life, criminal negligence causing bodily harm, aggravated assault, two counts of assault, two counts of uttering threats, and two counts of assault with a weapon.
The two were charged in January 2021 following an investigation by police after they got an alleged child abuse report in December 2020.
Their pre-trial is scheduled for Feb. 10 in Battleford Court of King’s Bench.
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