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Court Briefs HIV man accused of aggravated sex assaults to stand trial Northern News Services Published Friday, August 12, 2011
The 25-year-old Yellowknife man had been charged with aggravated sexual assault following his arrest Feb. 24, accused of having sex with women without telling them he was HIV positive.
The charge of aggravated sexual assault is considered more serious than sexual assault because it can wound, damage or endanger the life of the victim - in this case through the possible spread of HIV.
Crown prosecutor Duane Praught called four witnesses - all women - to testify during the two-day preliminary inquiry this week, held to determine the strength of the case against Kaotalok. In the end, Judge Garth Malakoe concluded there was enough evidence, based on the testimony of three of the witnesses, to move to trial in Supreme Court - at a date still to be scheduled.
Throughout the inquiry, Kaotalok - a young man of medium build, short black hair and no left arm - sat expressionless either in the prisoner's dock or beside his lawyer, dressed in a khaki T-shirt and baggy blue jeans. He used to wear a prosthetic arm, but was previously sentenced to a year in jail for a string of offences that including taking his arm off and hitting a police officer with it while resisting arrest.
Kaotalok has been in jail since his Feb. 24 arrest.
Man charged in 53 Street attack doesn't seek bail
A man charged with attacking a young woman walking on a Yellowknife street
earlier this year has waived his right to a bail review and will remain in
custody until his trial.
Bobby Robert Zoe was arrested after a 23-year-old woman was attacked on the evening of Jan. 2 as she walked along 53 Street, south of Franklin Avenue. He was charged with sexual assault, assault with a weapon, uttering death threats, robbery, choking to overcome resistance, and breach of probation.
Zoe was denied bail in April and decided in May not to proceed with a preliminary inquiry.
A message from his lawyer, Tracy Bock, was read in NWT Supreme Court on Monday, saying that Zoe will not, at this time, seek release from jail while he awaits his trial.
Reached afterward, Bock said a pre-trial conference has been scheduled with the defence, the Crown and a Supreme Court justice for early next month, and that Zoe's trial may follow in September. A trial date has not yet been set, though Zoe has chosen to be tried by judge and jury.
Doctor pleads not guilty
A Yellowknife physician previously convicted of threatening to kill a woman and breaking three no-contact orders is disputing a charge of failing to comply with the terms of his probation - as he's accused of contacting the same woman again.
Dr. Richard Cunningham did not appear in territorial court Tuesday morning, but his lawyer, Peter Fuglsang, pleaded not guilty on his behalf. The trial is set for Oct. 19.
Cunningham is accused of having made direct contact with the woman on May 18.
The charge follows Cunningham's conviction on Jan. 27, when he was sentenced to 90 days in jail for a death threat and breaking the no-contact orders. He was granted the right to serve his jail time on weekends so he could continue working as a doctor for the Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority. Among the probation conditions Judge Bernadette Schmaltz had imposed on Cunningham on Jan. 27 was that he not come within five metres of the woman, her vehicle or residence. The judge said Cunningham had caused the woman to "live in fear" and made her life "unbearable."
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