Latest news with #CalgaryCourtofJustice
Calgary Herald
26-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Preliminary inquiry begins for pair charged with murdering Rocky View County worker believed to have offered assistance
More from Calgary courts Article content Article content The hearing to determine if two men will stand trial for the murder of a Rocky View County employee believed to have stopped to offer help got underway Monday. Article content Article content Elijah Blake Strawberry and Arthur Wayne Penner are charged with second-degree murder in connection with the shooting death last Aug. 6 of Colin John Hough. Article content Article content They're also charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Matthew Andres in the same incident. Article content Before Crown prosecutors Photini Papadatou and Ryan Ziegler called the first of their witnesses, defence lawyers Rebecca Snukal (For Strawberry) and Alexandra Seaman (for Penner) were granted a publication ban on the evidence in the case by Justice Karim Jivraj. Article content At Papadatou's request, the Calgary Court of Justice also informed several members of the deceased's family viewing proceedings via Webex that the publication ban also prohibited them from publicly disseminating information about the evidence. Article content Hough was shot on a rural road near Conrich, east of Calgary, when it's believed he pulled over to offer assistance in connection with a burning truck. Article content Article content Andres, who was working for FortisAlberta Inc., survived being shot. Article content Papadatou and Ziegler are expected to call up to 13 witnesses over the course of the preliminary inquiry, which is scheduled to last four days. Article content Penner, 36, was arrested by the RCMP's major crimes unit with the assistance of Edmonton police six days after the fatal shooting of Hough. Article content He was initially charged with first-degree murder, but that allegation was later downgraded by the prosecution. Article content Strawberry, 28, was picked up more than a month after Hough's killing. Mounties arrested him Sept. 13, at a residence on O'Chiese First Nation near Rocky Mountain House in Central Alberta.
Calgary Herald
26-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Preliminary inquiry underway for woman charged with murder in Stoney Nakoda First Nation death
Evidence is expected to conclude Tuesday in the preliminary inquiry of a Stoney Nakoda First Nation woman charged with murder. Article content Article content Cynthia Dixon's scheduled four-day hearing got underway Monday in Calgary Court of Justice, but Crown lawyer Ron Simenik said he and co-prosecutor Idayat Balogun will likely only need half that time. Article content Simenik and Balogun are expected to call six witnesses over the course of the preliminary hearing before Justice Paul Mason. Article content Article content At defence counsel Kim Ross's request, Mason ordered a publication ban on the evidence presented by the prosecutors. Article content Article content Dixon, 49, is charged with second-degree murder in connection with the Sept. 8, 2023, death of Donald Nepoose. Article content Nepoose, 55, was found dead in a residence on the first nation after Stoney Nakoda RCMP responded to a call for a disturbance at a home in the area. Article content They found Nepoose dead on scene and an autopsy later confirmed he was the victim of a homicide. His cause of death has not been made public. Article content After a months-long investigation police charged Dixon with second-degree murder in early March 2024. Article content Dixon, who is also a Stoney Nakoda resident, is free on bail pending an outcome to the case. Article content Among the conditions of her March 11, 2024, release order is that she is prohibited from possessing any weapons and a $5,000 promise to pay if she violates bail. Article content
Calgary Herald
20-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Serial rape suspect Richard Mantha was a massive hoarder, his former landlord tells court
Serial rape suspect Richard Robert Mantha left behind thousands of kilograms of garbage on the rental property east of Calgary where he allegedly assaulted several women, his former landlord testified Tuesday. Article content Article content 'Probably the worst hoarder that I've ever met in my life,' Paul Lock told Mantha's Calgary Court of Justice trial, which resumed after a months-long delay. Article content Article content Crown prosecutor Dominique Mathurin took Lock through a series of photographs taken at his Vale View Road acreage following Mantha's April 2023 arrest. Article content Article content 'This photo doesn't give justice to the amount of stuff that was pulled out of there because my property looked like a landfill,' Lock testified. Article content Lock said he rented Mantha a Quonset on his property and in an 18-month period he stuffed it with everything from children's clothing and toys, to dead animals, to human feces, to a 'trashed' fifth-wheel motorhome. Article content 'I did see this (prior to Mantha's arrest) and I thought 'oh my God,'' Lock said. Article content 'He considered himself the highway hobo so if it wasn't bolted down he took it home.' Article content Mantha, 60, faces 20 charges involving allegations he sexually abused seven women, allegedly drugging six of them. He also faces a charge of kidnapping one of the women. Article content Article content Lock said after an 'army' of police officers raided his property over the Easter long weekend in 2023, he was left to clean up the mess his former tenant left behind. Article content He said, '37,426 pounds (nearly 17,000 kilograms) of garbage was removed off that property.' Article content 'That's what went through the scales at the dump.' Article content That amount didn't include recyclable materials, such as metals, which were also taken away. Article content 'After Richard was arrested the $33,000 cleanup began,' Lock said. Article content He said when Mantha first rented the building it was empty and a stipulation was that it be used only for work purposes, not a residence.
Calgary Herald
08-05-2025
- Calgary Herald
Martin: Recent sex case cautionary tale for teachers
Article content Article content Those are adjectives a Calgary judge suggested could describe the conduct of a former city teacher who had a sexual relationship with a just-graduated, 17-year-old student. Article content Justice Sean Dunnigan could probably have added 'creepy' to that list. Article content But criminal? Not so much. Article content And while Dunnigan's decision to acquit Jason Selby on a charge of sexual exploitation of a minor has some concerned it might open the door to similar conduct, fear not. Article content Article content In his 31-page decision handed down last week, the Calgary Court of Justice judge made it clear the unique circumstances in the relationship between Selby and the teenage girl fell on the shy side of criminal behaviour. Article content Article content But Dunnigan cited a litany of factors, absent from the Selby case, which could find an educator running afoul of the law. Article content To be clear, the judge did not in any way condone Selby's conduct by finding the Crown failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the now-fired teacher committed a crime. Article content Instead, Dunnigan's decision should serve as a warning to other teachers about the dangers of getting too cozy with students. Article content He noted Selby, who had earlier been the girl's homeroom teacher and taught her English in the first semester of Grade 12, didn't, like many sex offenders, groom a young and vulnerable target. Article content Dunnigan found there was no 'grooming, pressure, threats, incentivization or persuasion on the accused's part.' Article content In other words, the teen wasn't lured into a sexual relationship by an older, wiser adult who took advantage of someone's naiveté. Article content Article content Selby, who taught the girl at Western Canada High School, first had sex with her at his home in July 2018, a little more than a week after her final exam and more than a month before she turned 18. Article content But because she was old enough to consent, the Crown was obligated to prove the teacher was in a position of trust or authority over her. Article content While both the prosecution and defence agreed his position of authority ended with her graduation, the issue was whether he still had a trust relationship with her. Article content Despite her consent to the sexual relationship, which lasted nearly two years, Selby was looking at a minimum 12-month sentence if he was found to have taken advantage of a trust situation.
Calgary Herald
28-04-2025
- Calgary Herald
In Calgary courts: Crown seeks peace bond for rapist who just completed his lengthy prison term
The prosecution wants restrictions placed on a violent rapist, including electronic ankle monitoring, who just completed his entire sentence for kidnapping and sexual assaulting a Calgary teen. Article content Article content Duty counsel Bob Haslam appeared in Calgary Court of Justice on Monday and asked that Corey Manyshots' case be adjourned to Thursday so he can try to find a lawyer. Article content Article content Manyshots completed his 12-year prison sentence on Friday and would have been released into the community without conditions had the Crown not applied for a peace bond, which can place restrictions on individuals for as long as two years if they're deemed an ongoing danger to the public. Article content Article content Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh, who heads her office's high risk offender unit, said they have been given attorney general clearance to seek an ankle monitor as a condition of any court order. Article content Under the Criminal Code, a party — with the consent of the attorney general — may ask a judge to order an individual to abide by release conditions if there are reasonable grounds to fear that person will commit a serious personal injury offence. Article content Outside court Walsh, who did not attend Manyshots' brief court proceeding, said while such applications are common in her unit, they are generally rare. Article content Manyshots was arrested under a peace bond warrant last week since his prison term was about to expire. Article content He is in custody at the Calgary Remand Centre. If he refuses to enter into a peace bond, he could be ordered to remain behind bars. Article content Manyshots, 46, and his younger brother Cody Manyshots, 41, were each handed the equivalent of 12-year prison terms in June 2018 after pleading guilty to charges of kidnapping, sexual assault causing bodily harm, robbery and uttering death threats. Article content They abducted a 17-year-old Calgary girl off a residential street on Nov. 14, 2014, while she was waiting for a bus, took her to a nearby alley and sexually assaulted her.
