Cold weather forces another delay in Rushkewich preliminary hearing

EAGLE STAFF

A preliminary hearing for a man charged with aggravated assault, among other offences, was rescheduled again last week.

Corey Rushkewich’s preliminary hearing is now set for March 12 and April 23, if a second day is required. It had been scheduled for Jan. 22.

Most legal officials stayed in Saskatoon that day due to the cold weather, instead of attending the regular provincial court session at the Elks Hall.

“I was the one who made the call” to hold the Rosetown session in Saskatoon, Judge Brad Mitchell told Rushkewich, who had been taken to a remand centre in Saskatoon from Regina, during a telephone call linked to his lawyer and the Elks Hall.

The man, in his mid-thirties, was originally charged with aggravated assault, stealing a cellphone, and pointing a gun at people here during the evening of Nov. 11, 2023.

An RCMP constable who represents the Crown for traffic matters presided in Rosetown.

The hearing, to determine whether the Crown has enough evidence for a Court of King’s Bench trial to proceed, had been scheduled for Jan. 8 after police recaptured the accused.

However, it was adjourned to the 22nd when Crown prosecutor Tom O’Hara told Judge Miguel Martinez during the Dec. 11 session that he wouldn’t be able to prosecute on the 8th because the senior prosecutors’ office was “in a state of flux.”

Rushkewich’s lawyer opposed the delay, noting that her client was in jail. He didn’t show up for a hearing on May 8 and told his lawyer he had car trouble and couldn’t make it to another here on Sept. 12, 2024.