Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 20/05) - Charges against three men in connection with a January 2004 home invasion were stayed, Thursday, after Crown attorneys were unable to convince the victims - both foreign-born diamond cutters - to testify.

"This was a serious offence that (created) quite a concern for Yellowknife residents," Crown attorney Shelly Tkatch said Monday. "But we are under an obligation to proceed only with cases that have a reasonable prospect of conviction."

Four men - Michael Payne, Burton Dodman, Wade Sutherland and Gary Taylor - were arrested after the incident.

Just after midnight, Jan. 8, 2004, four masked men smashed their way into a Gitzel Street apartment rented by two diamond cutters from Eastern Europe. The thieves stole about $250 from the terrified men and demanded their bank cards and access codes.

According to court documents, the masked men threatened to kill their hostages. One of the attackers plunged a knife into the window sill just centimetres from the head of one victim.

The Crown tried unsuccessfully to convince the diamond cutters - who returned to their native Ukraine and Armenia last summer - to travel to Canada for the trial, which was scheduled for late October.

The men also refused to testify via a satellite feed from the Canadian embassy in Moscow, Tkatch said.

The Crown cannot compel witnesses from outside of Canada to testify, Tkatch said. That led her office to stay 12 total charges against Dodman, Sutherland and Taylor. Charges ranged from forcible confinement to assault with a weapon; to break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence.

The decision to stay the charges allows the Crown to bring them back before the court within 12 months, though Tkatch said the chance of that is "rare."

The only person convicted in connection with the home invasion was 21-year-old Michael Payne, who pleaded guilty last April to break and enter with intent.

Payne originally faced seven charges - six of which were withdrawn - and was sentenced to three years behind bars.

Conviction of home invasion charges can result in sentences of eight to nine years in prison.

During a jailhouse interview with Yellowknifer this spring, Dodman said Payne had agreed to provide evidence against the three other men.

In court documents, Payne said the men were smoking crack-cocaine for several days before the robbery, even lighting up just minutes before bursting into the apartment.

Both victims testified during a preliminary hearing into the charges against Dodman, Taylor and Sutherland in June 2004. The Crown lost a bid earlier this year to have that testimony entered as evidence during trial. Police knew by September 2004 that both witnesses were leaving the country and would not be returning.

None of the charges against the three men have been proven in court.

Dodman and Taylor each have extensive criminal records.

Dodman has been convicted five times of break and enter and twice of possession of stolen property. He received a two year sentence in 1999 for a pair of break-ins in Alberta.

Taylor has convictions for aggravated assault, resisting arrest, assaulting a police officer and assault causing bodily harm dating back to 2001.

Sutherland was charged with robbery in 2002, though that case was also stayed.