A hearing getting underway on Monday (Feb. 3) in Lethbridge Court of Queen’s Bench, in order to determine if a Coaldale man can be designated as a dangerous offender.
Trevor Pritchard, 35, has been convicted five times of sexual assault against minors, dating back to 2004. The Crown received consent from Alberta’s Attorney General last year, following Pritchard’s most recent conviction, to move forward with a dangerous offender application.
Crown prosecutor, Sarah Goard-Baker, explaining in her opening statement on Monday (Feb. 3) that she will attempt to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Pritchard’s behaviour is repetitive, persistent and aggressive, and that he fails to control his impulses, therefore making him a significant and ongoing threat to the public.
The hearing will take place throughout this week, before taking a break for more than a month. The case will then return to court on March 23 for another ten days to complete the hearing.
This week, Goard-Baker plans to present a considerable amount of documents as evidence, and she will call on nine witnesses to testify on their involvement in Pritchard’s numerous cases, including probation and parole officers, mental health professionals and a representative from Lethbridge’s victim services.
If Pritchard is designated as a dangerous offender, he may be sentenced to an indeterminate jail term. The Crown has previously stated that it is the most serious restriction on liberty that a court can impose.