An alleged home invasion in Estevan on Sunday led to arrests and charges for three individuals.
Weyburn residents Ayla Dawn, Lynn Schachtel and Peter McQuinn appeared in Estevan provincial court on Monday, along with Joseph Carl Debigare, who last resided in Weyburn but is originally from Quebec.
All three are facing charges of break and enter and assault with a weapon from the alleged incident on Nov. 27, while Debigare is also charged with evading police in a vehicle.
Victims of the home invasion attended the courthouse on Monday for the proceedings. Before the accused were escorted in, Judge Bazin asked if the courtroom needed to be cleared, but the attending Estevan Police Service sergeant said that wouldn't be necessary.
Bazin then directed his attention to the victims, informing them of the proceedings that would be happening, warning that no outbursts would be accepted.
"I do appreciate that these are highly emotional events," Bazin said, and the victims said they just wished to watch.
All three accused requested to speak to Legal Aid, though the Legal Aid lawyer was busy with other proceedings on Monday afternoon, so they were all remanded in custody until Thursday.
When told he would not be able to speak to Legal Aid and would have to remain in jail for at least the next three days, Debigare asked if he could plead guilty to the charges. Bazin suggested that because of the seriousness of the charges, he wait until Thursday to speak to a lawyer.
Show-cause hearings may go forward for the accused during their next appearance.
When the accused were taken out of the courtroom, one upset victim tried to leave in a hurry, but police stopped him at the door so there wouldn't be a possible altercation between him and the accused.
In other proceedings from Monday court, Estevan resident Tanya Fleury was sentenced to a 12-month conditional sentence followed by a year of probation. Fleury had previously pleaded guilty to theft, after stealing about $1,000 from her employer earlier this year.
Crown prosecutor Mitch Crumley had suggested a six to nine month jail term during Fleury's last appearance, saying that a term in the community would be inappropriate given her criminal record and the nature of the crime. He noted that an aggravating factor was that it was a situation of a breach of trust as the victim employed her.
When giving his decision, Bazin noted that Fleury had 10 previous convictions, five of which were property related. The most recent conviction was four years ago.
The judge outlined some of the mitigating factors as a voluntary guilty plea, and the fact that she called the police, turning herself in after the offence. She has also attended drug treatment and detox following the offence.
"This is a jail term served in the community," said Bazin, adding that if she breaches any conditions "the court is just going to send you to jail."
As part of her conditions, she is to attend any further drug treatment as directed by the probation officer, and attend Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous twice each week. She is to pay restitution and will be under a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. for the first four months, with the curfew starting an hour later for the next four months and two hours later for the last two months of the conditional sentence order.
The same conditions will be in effect for the duration of her probation except for the curfew.
One of the seven accused in an alleged kidnapping in May, Spencer Persson was granted court-appointed counsel on Monday. Bazin did, however, order that he pay $700 per month to court services. His next appearance is on Dec. 22.
During Monday's proceedings, a youth was remanded in custody after breaching an undertaking. He will make his next appearance on Thursday.
