UPDATE – North Battleford Crown Prosecutions informed SASKTODAY.ca Wednesday afternoon that a trial is going ahead against Joseph Sproull on 11 sexual assault and child porn charges.
According to emails received by SASKTODAY.ca Wednesday morning from both the North Battleford courthouse and Saskatchewan Justice in Regina, the 11 charges against the 40-year-old man who was living at a home-based daycare in Marshall had been stayed.
Joseph Sproull was scheduled to appear in North Battleford court on Oct. 19. Sproull, however, didn’t appear in court Wednesday. The courthouse said the Crown had submitted a written stay of proceedings against him on Sept. 26. North Battleford prosecutions, however, has now informed SASKTODAY.ca that they have gone by direct indictment with the charges against Sproull and a trial date will be set in King's Bench.
Sproull was arrested in July 2021 after police raided the home-based daycare on 1st Avenue East in Marshall July 14, 2021. Marshall is approximately 19 kilometres east of Lloydminster.
Police say they found images of unidentified children being sexually assaulted by a man. The police investigation determined that the home-based day care was operating where Sproull lived.
Investigators alerted the Government of Saskatchewan Ministry of Education the same day. The ministry suspended the day care’s licence two days later and advised all parents.
RCMP say that Sproull uploaded child pornography videos online and the images depicted three young children being assaulted. According to court documents, the alleged incidents occurred between Aug. 26, 2020, and March 12, 2021, at or near Marshall. The RCMP didn’t release the ages of the victims to protect their identity. There is a ban on publication of their names and anything that would identify them.
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