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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A man in the Sahtu who failed to show up for a previous trial date doesn't have the money to get to Yellowknife, according to his lawyer.

Defence attorney Hugh Latimer told Judge Robert Gorin in territorial court on Tuesday that the accused "just doesn't have the money to come down from the Sahtu."

The man is facing a charge of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle. When the man failed to appear for his trial roughly two weeks ago a warrant was issued for his arrest. Latimer questioned if another date for a trial should be set.

"I don't have any control over him," said Latimer. "He doesn't seem to be able to get out of Deline."

Gorin did not set a further date for trial and there is still a warrant for the man's arrest.

Woman sits in court with man she is not to contact

A woman facing numerous criminal charges appeared in court on Tuesday with a man she had been ordered not to have contact with.

The woman faces charges of uttering a death threat, driving while impaired, obstructing a peace officer, stealing liquor in an amount not exceeding $500 and breaching her court conditions.

The woman was scheduled to enter a plea but asked for a further adjournment so she could speak to a lawyer.

"These charges aren't going away," said Judge Robert Gorin.

He set another court date for Dec. 16 for her to enter a plea.

"I would also point out these two individuals are not to have contact," said Crown prosecutor Terry Nguyen, gesturing to the accused and the man who accompanied her to court.

Gorin warned both individuals they could be charged for breaching the no-contact order.

Crown stays charges in multiple cases

The Crown stayed charges in three separate cases on Tuesday.

Two cases were in relation to drug charges.

One woman had been charged with two counts of possession of an illegal substance and one charge of trafficking, all from a Sept. 2 incident. The woman said she didn't fully understand what it meant to have charges stayed.

"The Crown has, for the time being, dropped the charges," Judge Robert Gorin explained.

He told her if the Crown wanted to reinstate the charges, it had a limited amount of time to do so.

A second individual who had been charged with one count of possession of an illegal substance from Oct. 4 also had his charge stayed.

The third accused had entered a plea of not guilty to an assault charge when he was informed by Crown prosecutor Terry Nguyen a trial date would not be necessary and the charge was stayed.