CARLYLE - A preliminary hearing has been set in the second-degree murder case of Taylor Japp.
It will begin on June 2, 2025, in provincial court in Carlyle. A preliminary hearing is used to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a case to proceed to trial.
The preliminary hearing date was set during Japp's most recent court appearance in Carlyle on Wednesday.
Japp is accused of murder in the death of Briana Hayes of Oxbow earlier this year.
The co-accused in the case, Tyler Shaw of Gainsborough, will be back in provincial court on Aug. 12 in Estevan. He is charged with being an accessory after the fact to murder. He has been released with conditions.
On April 24, the Carlyle RCMP detachment received a report of a potential homicide. The Saskatchewan RCMP Major Crimes Unit took control of the investigation and began working to confirm this information. As a result of the investigation, Hayes' body was found in a rural location in the RM of Moose Mountain around noon on April 25.
Shaw was arrested and charged the same day, while the second-degree murder charge against Japp was announced on April 26.
The charges have not been proven in court.
