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Ponoka court cases take a break until January

Ponoka Provincial Court holds final date of 2019 before holiday break
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File photo

With court not returning until the new year, many of those appearing in Ponoka Provincial Court on Dec. 20 got a holiday reprieve.

Some significant cases that were adjourned until next month were Tim Rairdan from Ponoka, who is facing 14 charges that include vehicle theft, driving an unregistered vehicle, theft under $5,000 and eight counts of uttering or using a forged document. He is slated to appear again on Jan. 24.

One other case that was set over until Jan. 3 was for Donovan Rain, who has been charged with more than 25 offences that include robbery, carrying a concealed weapon, assault with a weapon, resisting arrest and numerous counts of failure to appear and failure to comply with a court order.

Rain, who is in custody and appeared by closed-circuit television, had hoped to be released on bail. However, he was unable to get the guarantee necessary to secure his release.

Meanwhile, the case of Brandon Ducharme will be heading to a judge-only trial at Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench in Wetaskiwin, but was in the Ponoka courtroom for defence lawyer Rodney Clark to request an adjournment and a new date for the trial.

Ducharme is facing several charges including breaking and entering a home, possession of a prohibited weapon and possession of a dangerous weapon.

Clark had hoped to call an RCMP officer as a witness, since the prosecution wasn’t going to. However, the officer is not available for the original trial date, so Clark sought the adjournment.

The request was granted given the circumstances, while the new trial date will be determined in the new year.