A lawyer representing a man charged with holding a girl captive against her will for four days asked the court for another adjournment.
Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle waived his client, Aaron Gardiner’s appearance in Meadow Lake Provincial Court March 8 and asked for more time to continue discussions with the Crown.
Gardiner, 42, has been in custody 11 months on these charges. The Supreme Court ruled, in 2016, that court cases must be heard within 18 months in provincial court and 30 months in superior court. If they aren’t, the case could be thrown out of court.
The COVID-19 pandemic has created delays and a backlog in Saskatchewan’s court system but it’s not the pandemic causing these delays but rather the defendant. Gardiner has gone through about five lawyers. He has either fired the lawyers or they have withdrawn from representing him.
On March 1 Pfefferle asked for a week’s adjournment telling the court he is in discussions with the Crown about the possibility of running an abbreviated preliminary hearing for Gardiner. Gardiner wants a preliminary hearing and a trial in Court of Queen’s Bench with a judge and jury.
OnMarch 8 Pefferle said the Crown may still just proceed by way of direct indictment, which means there wouldn’t be a preliminary hearing. Canada’s Criminal Code allows for a case to be sent directly to trial without a preliminary hearing through a direct indictment. Direct Indictment is only used in serious crimes and when it’s in the public interest.
Prosecutor Andrew Clements didn’t object to the adjournment and Judge Michelle Baldwin adjourned the matter to March 15.
Gardiner was arrested in April 2020 for allegedly holding a girl captive for four days at a remote cabin across from ÃŽle-Ã -la-Crosse Lake. A specialized RCMP tactical unit was flown to the isolated cabin by two military CH-146 Griffon helicopters to rescue her and arrest Gardiner. He was charged with unlawful confinement, assault, overcoming resistance, uttering threats, resisting arrest, possessing a firearm for a dangerous purpose, use of a firearm in commission of an indictable offence, proceeds of crime, and possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Three months after his arrest, police added more charges after more alleged victims came forward.
