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Dangerous offender hearing set for May

Terrence McEachern
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, March 2, 2011

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 35-year-old man who has pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two girls and has a similar conviction already on his record sat quietly in the prisoner's detention box Monday as the court confirmed the May start date of his dangerous offender application hearing.

Defence lawyer Thom Boyd told the court his client, Bobby Kudlak, was waiving his right to a bail review as he previously did in November.

The Crown and defence confirmed Kudlak's dangerous offender application hearing is scheduled for May 7-20.

At press time, the name of the judge scheduled to preside over the sentencing hearing was not known.

Boyd said his client recently returned from a forensic psychiatric assessment in Toronto.

Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh first indicated she would be pursuing the dangerous offender designation against Kudlak when he pleaded guilty last year. Dangerous offender applications are normally sought by the Crown when an offender with a history of sexual or violent crimes is believed to be a high risk of re-offending. If deemed a dangerous offender, the person can be incarcerated indefinitely.

According to the agreed facts, on July 16, 2009, Kudlak sexually assaulted a young girl while she was playing hide-and-go-seek with her friends at the Yellowknife Public Library. The girl was hiding under a large bean bag when she felt something touching her leg and then her vaginal area. She kicked at what turned out to be a man's arm and then saw a "very short male" walk away quickly. Kudlak was later identified as the culprit by another girl who had been playing the game. The librarian recognized him as well.

The second incident occurred in 2005 when Kudlak touched the private parts of a 10-year-old girl in her home one morning. Kudlak, a friend of the girl's father, often slept at the home when he had no other place to live.

He previously served eight months in jail for a June 6, 2008, incident where he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl at Wal-Mart.

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