Colin Wheeler will remain in custody at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary in St. John’s until his trial takes place.
Supreme Court of Newfoundland Justice George Murphy pushed that trial up from its scheduled October dates to June when Wheeler appeared before him via videoconference from the penitentiary on Wednesday morning.
The purpose of the appearance was to deal with two applications submitted by the institution for an administrative bail review of Wheeler’s case.
He has been at the penitentiary since October 2017 and is charged with assault, assault with a weapon and two counts of mischief related an alleged incident at a residence Benoit’s Cove, where he had been living. In November 2017, he was charged with two counts of failing to comply with a court order that he not contact two women, the alleged victims in the case.
Under Section 525 of the criminal code the institution where a person is being held must apply for an administrative bail review 90 days after the person has been in custody.
During the review, a judge may decide whether or not the accused should be released and take into consideration whether the prosecutor or the accused has been responsible for any unreasonable delay in the matter going to trial.
Murphy said Wednesday’s appearance was not for a hearing on the application but to hear the position of the Crown and Wheeler on it.
Crown attorney Adam Sparkes provided a timeline on the proceedings and said he thought it had proceeded quickly. He also informed the court that the Crown has earlier dates than those that had been set for the trial.
When Murphy asked Wheeler if he agreed or disagreed with the Crown’s position, he said he agreed.
Murphy set the trial for June 4 and 5, and a pre-trial conference for April 10.
Wheeler has yet to secure a lawyer to handle his case and Murphy once again told him that he should do so and that the obligation is on him to get legal representation.
The need for Wheeler to have legal representation came up again later in the morning when he appeared again before Murphy on an ongoing civil matter.
Wheeler filed a statement of claim with the court in 2012 and an amended version of it in November 2014 against two doctors, Christo Taylor and Rafid Mahdi, Western Health, Blomidon Pharmacy Limited and Shoppers Drug Mart.
He alleges he was prescribed a higher than maximum dosage of Ritalin by the doctors that were filled by the pharmacy and that high dosage caused the hyperactivity, anxiety and auditory hallucinations that contributed to his stabbing a person and the jail sentence that ensued.
The defendants filed defences to Wheeler’s claim, but nothing has happened with the case since then and lawyer who filed the original application is no longer involved in the matter.
In January, the defendants filed separate applications with the court asking that Wheeler’s claim be dismissed, or for the court to provide direction and a timeline for it to proceed.
Wheeler told Murphy it was his intention to proceed with the claim and that he would be getting a lawyer to represent him on the claim.
The three lawyers representing the defendants said they were in agreement to setting the matter over to give Wheeler time to get a lawyer to represent him on the claim, and if he doesn’t take steps to do so before the next appearance then they’d be asking that the matter be dismissed.
Again, Murphy told Wheeler the obligation was on him to take some steps to further the process and set the matter over to June 5.
