All seven co-accused in an alleged kidnapping made court appearances in Estevan provincial court on Monday.
The seven matters are still expected to be put together into one joint information, but the Crown did not submit that information to the court during proceedings, instead asking for an adjournment until Oct. 13. Lawyers representing the accused, Creston Hanson, Ronald Himmelspeck, Amanda Knebush, Dustin MacNeil, Spencer Persson and Jessica Smith agreed, to the adjournment, while Mark Davis's counsel did not consent to the adjournment.
Davis, his defence noted, is the only one of the accused still in custody, and because he is facing an individual information, not a joint one, he wished to set a date for a preliminary inquiry. The Crown said a preliminary inquiry for these matters can be expected to take five days. Because of the length of such proceedings, two of the co-accused said they would not be able to afford their legal fees and would be applying to Legal Aid or seeking court-appointed counsel. Smith is currently represented by Legal Aid, and Persson is applying.
While wishing to set preliminary inquiry dates, Davis's counsel said he was not willing to wait for a joint information that hasn't been completed yet for charges that are more than four months old. He said that as individuals accused apply for Legal Aid and seek new representation, the other six parties still won't be prepared to set preliminary inquiry dates, while Davis is.
Presiding Judge Karl Bazin said the concerns were "well-founded" but that the matter would still have to be adjourned so a week could be canvassed to hold the preliminary inquiry.
All co-accused will be back in court Oct. 13.
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Greg Beston, who had previously pleaded guilty to trafficking marijuana and possessing the proceeds of crime, was sentenced Sept. 29 to an 18-month conditional sentence order that includes electronic monitoring. The Regina resident will also be subject to a 10-year weapons prohibition.
Because the drugs were in Beston's car and it was used in the sale of marijuana, the Crown is asking for a forfeiture of the vehicle. Beston's father was a co-purchaser of the vehicle, putting a down payment on the car. There was a loan with the Bank of Montreal, and there was some question about whether the bank had some ownership of the vehicle when Beston made his plea on Sept. 8.
His father bought the car from the bank on Sept. 16 for $27,932, and he is requesting that it not be forfeited to the Crown and instead be released into his ownership. If the vehicle is forfeited, that money will be lost.
Crown prosecutor Steven Dribnenki said he was not prepared to release the car, noting that it is a mandatory provision for offence-related property to be forfeited.
"(Beston) kept the drugs in his vehicle ... and that's where the transaction took place," he said.
It was noted that the car has a total worth of about $31,000. Bazin adjourned the matter to Oct. 27 to consider the application to have the vehicle released.
In other court proceedings last Thursday, Estevan resident Tanya Fleury pleaded guilty to theft, after an incident on June 10 when she stole $1,000 in cash from Pita Central, where she worked. She does have a related criminal record. She was not represented by a lawyer, though had planned on seeking court-appointed counsel prior to entering the plea, so the Crown requested that a pre-sentence report be completed. Sentencing was adjourned to Nov. 21.
Bazin began the court proceedings last Thursday with opening remarks recognizing the historical significance of the day. It was the 80th anniversary of the Estevan and Bienfait coal miners' strike, in which three miners were shot and killed outside the courthouse. He noted that many of the labour laws that are still in effect today can be traced back to the events of Sept. 29, 1931.
