Yellowknife (Apr 22/05) - A once prominent Yellowknife lawyer who was convicted last year of fondling two young girls has been ordered to stand trial on another molestation charge.

Charles McGee showed little emotion during a three-hour preliminary hearing Wednesday that ended when a territorial court judge ordered the former civil attorney to stand trial on a charge of indecent assault.

"The test has been met," said judge Michel Bourassa in a briefly worded decision.

The most recent allegations against McGee, a married father of three, date to the early 1980s.

He is accused of molesting a girl who was between 11 and 12 years old at the time.

Testimony from Monday's preliminary hearing is subject to a court ordered publication ban.

Bourassa gave McGee an opportunity to address the court, but the former civil attorney declined.

"No sir, I have nothing to say," he said before a half-filled courtroom that included a former victim.

McGee was convicted on a pair of indecent assault charges in October of 2004. Two young victims testified at the trial McGee fondled their breasts and buttocks during a nude photo session in 1973.

McGee, 53 at the time of the conviction, was sentenced to one year of house arrest followed by six months of nightly curfew - a decision that outraged his victims.

The latest charges were laid in October 2004 - the day before McGee was sentenced on the indecent assaults.

This will mark the third time McGee has been tried for sex crimes against a minor. In 2002 he was acquitted of fondling a nine year old girl.

The Law Society of the Northwest Territories suspended his legal license for 18 months following the 2004 conviction.