A soldier who is facing charges of attempted murder of her three children has had her trial postponed on the morning it was slated to begin.
On Monday the Court of Queen’s Bench in Edmonton heard the woman, whose name is under a publication ban to protect the identities of her children, suffered a concussion which would temporarily cause her to have significant deficits in her attention.
The accused, who moved to Morinville after the incident in 2015, was slated to start a three-week trial to face three charges of attempted murder of her three children and arson charges. The incident happened at their home on the Edmonton Garrison base on July 20, 2015.
Defence lawyer Curtis Steeves brought the adjournment forward after the accused was assessed by an occupational therapist, who said the accused would have a tough time comprehending questions and would likely mix up answers or provide poor answers due to poor brain processing speeds.
Steeves said the occupational therapist requested the accused defer being questioned until she could attend cognitive rehabilitation for three months.
If the accused were to go ahead in the three-week trial, they would need to take five-to-10-minute breaks every 15 minutes, court heard.
Crown prosecutor Dallas Sopko agreed with the submission by the defence counsel.
“It appears she has a significant intellectual deficit right now that puts her in about the fifth percentile and that it is temporary in nature,” Sopko said.
The Crown said adjourning the trial temporarily is not to say that she isn’t fit to stand trial when they come back on another day, but rather the state that she currently is in is seen as temporary and she will be more prepared to go through the trial later.
“It would be unfair knowing that that is a temporary state, and a severe one, for her to expect to proceed with her trial,” Sopko said.
The case will come back before the Court of Queen’s Bench on March 11 at 9:30 a.m. where they will choose dates for another trial. Sopko said they expect to be able to wrap up the trial in two weeks and would consider non-consecutive weeks to get time in a courtroom.
