Features

 News Desk
 News Briefs
 News Summaries
 Columnists
 Sports
 Editorial
 Arctic arts
 Readers comment
 Find a job
 Tenders
 Classifieds
 Subscriptions
 Market reports
 Northern mining
 Oil & Gas
 Handy Links
 Construction (PDF)
 Opportunities North
 Best of Bush
 Tourism guides
 Obituaries
 Feature Issues
 Advertising
 Contacts
 Archives
 Today's weather
 Leave a message


NNSL Photo/Graphic

NNSL Logo .
Home page text size buttonsbigger textsmall text Text size Email this articleE-mail this page

Court Briefs
Arson case waiting on fire records

Cara Loverock
Northern News Services
Published Friday, October 31, 2008

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Dettah man facing an arson charge after an incident in which a house was set on fire with two girls inside had his case adjourned again. Jimmy Beaulieu, 45, appeared in territorial court on Tuesday.

Defence attorney Dan Rideout said the matter had been adjourned "a number of times" due to a hold-up in getting notes and reports from the fire department in relation to the arson charge.

The need for information from the fire department was mentioned before on Sept. 16 when Rideout said he was still waiting for a significant number of reports from the department.

"We are attempting to get (the reports). We do not have it as of yet," said Crown prosecutor Shannon Smallwood.

The case was again adjourned to Nov. 4. Beaulieu is facing nine criminal charges. He is accused of pushing two youths, ages 16 and 10, inside a home and setting a fire on Aug. 3.

Vocal man gets new lawyer

A man accused of theft, break and enter and mischief became upset when Judge Robert Gorin adjourned his case to Nov. 4.

"I don't want to adjourn. I don't want to," the man said from the prisoners' dock on Tuesday.

He said he wanted to enter a plea to the nine criminal charges he is facing.

He also said he didn't want his current lawyer, Stephen Shabala. After a break, the matter was given a court date of Nov. 12 and the accused was told he could deal with defence attorney Dan Rideout.

"I prefer Mr. Rideout to all the other (lawyers)," the man said.

"Well there you go. You're lucking out," replied Gorin.

No female jail keeps woman in RCMP cells

A 19-year-old woman, who broke into the Yellowknife Inn through a window with another individual and fell asleep in one of the rooms, was fined $200 after pleading guilty to property damage and other charges.

Her lawyer, Jay Bran, protested Tuesday that his client had been held for three days in Yellowknife RCMP detachment cells.

Bran said the detainment cells are "loud" and less comfortable than standard jail facilities.

"The facilities in Yellowknife for females are non-existent," said Bran.

The woman was legally a youth at the time of the Oct. 1, 2006 incident. Bran said it had taken a long time to resolve the charges because his client had been heavily involved in drugs.