Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Mar 01/02) - Fort Liard RCMP had to respond twice to reports of assaults in Trout Lake within three days last week.

On Sunday morning, the police responded to a domestic dispute and charged a man with assault and mischief. Alcohol was involved in the incident, Cpl. Craig Seafoot said.

On Friday afternoon, a man was charged with assault, assault causing bodily harm, assault with a weapon and breach of probation after he allegedly assaulted three people, Seafoot said. Alcohol was again involved.

The accused was no longer in the community by the time RCMP arrived, but he already had a March 13 court date scheduled on another matter. If he doesn't appear on that date, a warrant will then be issued for his arrest.

"We know he's in our area so we haven't asked for a warrant yet," Seafoot explained.

On Feb. 20, a Fort Liard man reportedly forced a vehicle off the road, assaulted the driver, damaged his vehicle and allegedly forced the female passenger to get into his own vehicle. The accused was charged with assault, mischief, and kidnapping. He also reportedly violated an undertaking as he had previously been ordered not to have any contact with the female passenger, Seafoot said. Alcohol was involved in the incident, he added.

The accused is being held in custody in Yellowknife until his March 5 court date.

"We've had a busy two weeks," Seafoot said.

"We're not fooling around when it comes to domestics (assaults) and the same thing with elder abuse."