A man and woman charged in an incident where a homeowner was allegedly forced to turn over his car keys appeared in North Battleford Provincial Court April 8.
Legal aide lawyer Andrew Lyster requested that a bail verification report be prepared for Niesha Baptiste, 24. The report assists the court in making a determination on whether a person should be granted bail. Her show cause hearing was adjourned to April 18.
The Crown reserved its election against Baptiste.
Lyster told the court it’s a conflict for his office to represent Delainey Moosomin, 23. Judge Murray Pelletier adjourned the matter to April 22. The Crown elected to proceed by indictment against Moosomin. Summary conviction is a less serious type of offence that comes with a lesser sentence, whereas an indictable offence covers more serious crimes and results in a more serious sentence.
Baptiste and Moosomin have been in custody since their arrest last week. The Battlefords RCMP had sent out an alert on April 4 saying that at about 7:20 a.m. on Sunday, an unknown subject entered a residence and demanded vehicle keys from the property owner. The suspect was described as non-white, wearing all black and a black mask. The suspect was given keys to a 2002 white Buick Century. Not long after, police recovered the vehicle and arrested Moosomin and Baptiste.
Moosomin was charged with stealing keys with a knife, resisting a peace officer, theft of a vehicle, break and enter, and mischief/property damage under $5,000.
Moosomin also has charges from December 2019 including carrying a concealed weapon (knife and bear spray).
Baptiste was charged with dangerous driving, failing to stop for police during a pursuit, resisting a peace officer, possession of a vehicle under $5,000 by crime, and failing to comply with probation conditions. Baptiste also has charges from January including driving a vehicle on Sweetgrass First Nation while being pursued by police and failing to stop, driving a vehicle in a manner dangerous to the public, possession of a weapon for a purpose dangerous to the public peace, failing to comply with a probation order not to possess firearms or other weapons, and two counts of failing to appear in court.
The charges against Baptiste and Moosomin haven’t been proven in court.
