A trial date was set in December for a couple charged under the both the Income Tax Act and the Excise Tax Act.
Norman Desautels, of Alida, appeared in Estevan provincial court on Oct. 13, representing himself and his wife Dorothy-Anne Desautels who was not present for the proceedings. A case management hearing had previously been held on Sept. 29 to find dates for the trial that is expected to last nine days. Dates from Dec. 5 to Dec. 9 and Dec. 12 to Dec. 15 have been scheduled for the proceedings.
Before the dates were established, Desautels told presiding Judge Karl Bazin, "I don't consent to any trial."
Bazin said that was fine, but they were there to set trial dates anyway. It was established by the Crown that not-guilty pleas had been entered for the charges on April 11. The guilty plea was entered by Jeffrey Kalmakoff, who was the judge at the time.
Desautels told Bazin he did not consent to have a plea entered on any of the 19 counts against both he and his wife. Bazin explained that when an individual doesn't enter pleas, the court is authorized to do it for them.
Desautels told Bazin again, "Sir, I do not consent to the trial."
The trial will begin Dec. 5.
In other court proceedings, a preliminary inquiry was scheduled for Mark Davis, who, along with six others, has been charged with kidnapping, assault and extortion. The Crown presented a joint information last Thursday, with all the individuals being charged together with the same 13 charges. The new information also added two break-and-enter charges to all five male accused.
Davis's preliminary hearing is set from Jan. 23 to 27, 2012. There will be one preliminary inquiry for the six remaining accused, but no date has been set, as some of them are in the process of applying for court-appointed counsel.
Davis elected trial by judge and jury at Court of Queen's Bench. The Crown proceeded by indictment, the more serious way to prosecute. Some of the charges come with mandatory indictment.
A pair of young offenders were in custody during court proceedings on Oct. 13. The youths cannot be named because they are protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.
A 14-year-old male, who was charged with stealing a van, was released into a youth undertaking. He was living in foster care when he was arrested.
The other youth, a 14-year-old male charged with two counts of damaging property, was also released into an undertaking.
Sentencing was set for another youth matter, in which a 16-year-old male pleaded guilty to uttering threats over Facebook. The accused lived with his father at the time of the incident, and the Crown suggested a period of deferred custody for one to three months.
The defence said that because the threat was issued over Facebook, there was no face-to-face confrontation and suggested the threat wouldn't even have been made face to face, saying that communicating via social media may encourage boldness. Judge Bazin said the threats over the Internet are still to be taken seriously.
"I appreciate that there was not an immediate threat," said Bazin, "but we're seeing more of (these kinds of threats) these days. That's how (young people) communicate now."
The threat was made to a girl of the same age who doesn't attend the same school, but the two travel on the same bus. The youth had spent two weeks in custody after he was arrested earlier this year for the charge and remains under house arrest as part of his release.
Bazin reserved judgment until Nov. 10. The Crown also suggested a period of probation and curfew of 9 p.m. to 7 a.m., though Bazin suggested he was thinking of a curfew from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m.
The defence said these measures were unnecessary considering the two weeks he has already spent in jail, which was a first experience for him, and the strict conditions of his release being unable to leave his house unless under the supervision of his father or a youth worker.
