Rosetown Court hears disturbing testimony as trial continues
EAGLE STAFF
Two children testified as the trial of a man accused of four offences resumed during a provincial court session at the Elks Hall on Dec. 11.
The child the man is accused of touching for a sexual purpose said, in a video recorded less than a week after the October 2022 incident, that the man had come into her bedroom in Rosetown, laid down beside her “and started putting his hands in my pants.” She added that he had also “smacked my mom.”
The man also faces charges of sexual assault, assault, and dangerous driving.
Questioned by a local RCMP officer, the girl said that he had first blown on her chest and “asked ‘what do you want?’ over and over.” She said the man “smelled of beer and smokes.”
His hands went beneath her underwear, and she started to cry, asking him, “Can you please stop? Stop; stop;” before he finally stopped, she said. He left the room, went downstairs, and she later informed her mother, the girl added.
Earlier that day, he had driven “smoking and drinking beer” partway to Rosetown with the girl and her brothers, she said in the video.
Cross-examined by the accused’s lawyer on Dec. 11, she said she remembered “a little bit” of the trip to Rosetown.
“I can’t remember him blowing on my chest, but I remember him putting his hands in my pants and him smacking my mom,” she told the lawyer.
An older brother said in another video that he had been “afraid I was going to die” because the man was driving so fast and swerving into the oncoming lane, sometimes into the ditch.
He said the man had slapped his mother “hard” from 12 to 15 times. When Judge Miguel Martinez asked near the end of his cross-examination if the man had used both hands and slapped both sides of his mother’s face, he replied, “Yes.”
He also told the defence lawyer that the man had swerved the vehicle “about five times,” did not go into the ditch, and that he could not see the vehicle’s speedometer because the man’s shoulder was blocking his view.
The trial is scheduled to continue on Feb. 12.
Traffic and Driving Offences
Kassie Sylvestre, 32, of Turnor Lake, must pay $1,000 and is prohibited from driving for at least a year. She pleaded guilty to impaired driving due to alcohol. Multiple drivers reported a swerving vehicle near Rosetown on Sept. 22, Crown prosecutor Tom O’Hara said. Sylvestre’s vehicle went into the ditch after near-misses. Judge Martinez said a “little bit of mercy would be appropriate” given she is not working and has a child in a Saskatoon hospital.
Xiumin Wang, 59, of Scarborough, Ont., fined $578 after a guilty plea deal. Police clocked the vehicle at 141 km/h on July 18.
Angeliou Radomes, 27, of Saskatoon, fined $375 after asking for a reduction from $578 for speeding at least 35 km/h over the limit near Zealandia on Oct. 11.
Gagandeep Brar, 27, and Kulvir S. Brar, 62, of Calgary, fined $300 each instead of $820 for speeding near Rosetown on March 8. Speeds were reduced from 152 km/h to 135 km/h through plea deals.
Sagardeep Dhammu, 23, of Belleville, fined $300 instead of $546 for speeding near Harris on Oct. 1 after plea agreement. Police clocked him at 137 km/h.
Bhavik H. Patel, 31, of Winnipeg, fined $296 for going 134 km/h near McGee on June 1.
Samantha J. Regier, 27, of Saskatoon, fined $292 for going 133 km/h near Harris on Oct. 3.
Shane A. Keating, 60, of Saskatoon, fined $200 instead of $580 for driving an unregistered vehicle near Tessier on Oct. 11.
Bianca J. Scott, 39, of Calgary, fined $200 for going 125 km/h near Sovereign on Aug. 26.
Muhammad K. Choudhary, 50, of Saskatoon, fined $194 for going 122 km/h near Tessier on Oct. 16.
Melanie S. Leblanc, 30, of Saskatoon, fined $194 after pleading guilty as the registered owner to speeding near Zealandia on Sept. 26. She said she was following a speeding semi and focused on passing it despite seeing flashing police lights.
Brett J. Wagontall, 43, of Kindersley, fined $192 for going 121 km/h near Rosetown on Oct. 3.
Roman Konovalov, 45, of Woodbridge, Ont., fined $170 instead of $292 for going 110 km/h near Rosetown on March 11. Police recorded 133 km/h.
Sara Engen, 33, of Rosetown, fined $115 for driving with a badly damaged windshield near town on Oct. 3.
Jay J. Aitken, 59, of Great Falls, Mont., fined $100 instead of $194 after explaining his GPS gave inaccurate speed/location readings on a trip to Rosthern.
Judge Martinez also refused to re-open a deemed speeding conviction from 2022, noting the application arrived “way past time.”