Malcolm Gorrill
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 23/00) - A man charged in the stabbing death of a Tuktoyaktuk woman made a brief appearance in Inuvik court Tuesday.

Ernest Raddi, 25, faces a second degree murder charge. He was arrested shortly after Rosa Chicksi's body was discovered at a residence in Tuktoyaktuk on June 15. Police say Chicksi, 42, had been stabbed.

Raddi appeared before Judge Brian Bruser Tuesday morning. At that appearance it was decided he will return to court in Hay River on Aug. 15, at which time a date will be established for a preliminary hearing. Raddi will remain in custody.

Crown attorney Brent Lepage asked for but was denied a publication ban on the case.

Afterwards, Lepage said he wanted a ban "mainly to stop any facts from being portrayed in the media."

Lepage said, "This matter shouldn't be tried in the media before it gets tried in the courts, so that's what I was concerned with.

"Plus, we're dealing with a very small population, from which we have to eventually pick a jury, so we're trying to make it as fair a trial as possible," he said.

"The reason it (the ban) wasn't granted today was that there was nothing contentious being discussed in court today. It was all process."