Dangerous Offender hearing underway for 35-year-old Coaldale man

Feb 3, 2020 | 4:12 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Thousands of pages, including testimonies, correctional and penitentiary information, parole and psychiatric program records and prior records of convictions were introduced Monday, Feb. 3, in Court of Queen’s Bench during the first day of 35-year-old Trevor Pritchard’s Dangerous Offender Hearing.

Pritchard himself sat in the prisoner’s box, hair shorn, wearing blue and black coveralls; glancing at his father sitting on the wooden courtroom benches from time to time.

Crown Prosecutor Sarah Goard-Baker told Madame Justice Johnna Kubik she intended to prove two things: one, that Pritchard meets the standard and the criteria for a dangerous offender because of his patterns of persistent aggressive behaviour, a failure to control his sexual impulses, and that he is a threat to the public because he is pathologically unable to stop himself.

Second, that if Justice Kubik agrees, no sentence, except an indeterminate one would be appropriate for him, given the need to protect the public.

Goard-Baker also told the court that she hoped to introduce victim impact statements she believed would be crucial to consider in terms of the ongoing effect on his victims.

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However, Defense Lawyer Andre Ouellette argued that the letters weren’t relevant, and questioned how they would assist the judge in determining the ways in which she may protect the public from his client in the future.

The first witness to take the stand for the Crown was Pritchard’s parole officer in 2004, 2006, and from 2007-2009. He described how case notes were taken, what risk management reviews were, and deciphered how notes were taken by either himself or other officers.

He described how he would speak on the telephone with Pritchard’s mother as a collateral source rather than Pritchard himself sometimes, and that Pritchard made it clear that he was resistant to counselling.

The senior parole officer also admitted that Pritchard had missed at least two appointments with his parole officer and a telephone call, but that he would wait for Pritchard to contact them to find out why the appointments were missed. Asked why those violations were not reported, the officer said that he didn’t want to tie up the courts with the breaches if possible.

A representative from the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatric facility is expected to testify on Tuesday.

The hearing will continue until the end of the week, then resume on March 23, and continue for another 10 days.

by Lara Fominoff