Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services

IQALUIT (Sep 20/99) - A man charged with a total of 62 sex-related offences appeared by telephone in Nunavut's Court of Justice last Tuesday morning.

Patching in from the Yellowknife Correctional Centre, Edward Horne, joined by lawyer Jim Brydon in Hay River, spoke via telephone to Justice Beverly Browne in Iqaluit.

The purpose of the hearing was to try and set a date for Horne's show cause hearing and 90-day bail review, and to look at a location and date for his preliminary hearing.

Horne has elected to be tried by judge and jury on all 62 counts.

After juggling dates to find a time that was acceptable to both Brydon and Crown lawyer Debra Robinson, Justice Browne scheduled the show cause-bail review to tentatively proceed on Oct. 21 at 9:30 a.m. before Justice Robert Kilpatrick. Brydon, based in Yellowknife, will appear in Iqaluit in person for the one-day hearing, but Horne will remain at YCC and participate by telephone.

While the alleged crimes were committed in Nunavut when Horne worked as a teacher, the 56-year-old man was moved to YCC on April 23 after the warden at the Baffin Correctional Centre expressed concern over Horne's safety.

A date for the preliminary hearing -- expected to take up to four weeks and involve the testimony of 45 to 50 witnesses -- was not set, but Brydon, Robinson and Justice Browne did agree to a pre-trial discussion date of either Sept. 24 or Oct. 1. The logistics of the preliminary proceedings, including its location, will be discussed at that time.

Brydon, who had grave concerns about holding the hearing in Iqaluit, said he wanted the matter to be heard in Yellowknife.

"The security is better, (Horne) is here and the facilities in Iqaluit were, to be charitable, primitive," said Brydon.

"It was simply devastating to his physical health to be held the way he was the last time. It just makes better sense."

Brydon and Robinson are expected to confer on the matter prior to the pre-trial conference.

Horne was apprehended on March 30 at the Toronto International Airport after RCMP received a tip that he was returning home to Canada after a four-year stint in Mexico City. Police had previously issued a Canada-wide warrant for his arrest and had been looking for Horne for three years.

Previously incarcerated in a federal penitentiary for committing other sex crimes, Horne taught at several schools around Nunavut during the 1970s and 1980s. He was originally charged with 34 different sex offences, but the number of counts was increased to 62 in August.

A publication ban has been placed on reporting the names of the alleged victims.