By Patrick Burles (@PatrickBurles)

Trial to proceed for Coaldale man accused of sexual assault

Feb 13, 2018 | 8:46 AM

LETHBRIDGE – The trial for a Coaldale man accused of sexual assault, uttering threats and child luring will proceed on schedule, despite the accused moving on to his fourth lawyer.

Trevor Pritchard’s third lawyer, Mansoor Kahn, set the matter for trial from Apr. 9 – 13, 2018 last November. Kahn was forced to withdraw from the case just one month later though, saying he didn’t feel he had the experience to handle it, as the Crown noted their intension to seek a dangerous offender standing for Pritchard, if convicted.

Calgary based lawyer Tonii Roulston became the fourth lawyer on the file in January, at which time she informed the court that she may not be available for the scheduled trial dates, but asked for an adjournment to see if her office could find a way to make it work.  

On Monday morning, Feb. 12, an agent appearing for Roulston in Court of Queen’s Bench in Lethbridge, stated that they could confirm the original trial dates and would be ready to proceed in April.

The 33-year-old was arrested and charged on Jan. 18, 2017, for the alleged sexual assault of a 15-year-old girl. Coaldale RCMP then released a statement, asking anyone with information regarding other offences related to the matter to come forward. That prompted two more victims under the age of 16 to come forward.

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In connection with the two additional accusations, Pritchard has another trial scheduled for November on two counts of sexual assault, two counts of child luring and one count of possession of child pornography.

Pritchard – who remains in custody by his own consent – finished serving a 44-month sentence in November of 2013 for the sexual assault of two 13-year-old girls.