Crown to seek adult sentences

The Crown has given notice it will seek to sentence as adults two youths accused of murdering 67-year-old Lawrence Skoretz of Yorkton.

Skoretz was found unresponsive on Wellington Park Road, near his home, early on the morning of September 13 and pronounced dead on arrival at Yorkton Regional Health Centre.

Following an investigation that included a police blockade of the wooded area between Sacred Heart High School and Hopkins Lake for several days. The two boys, who cannot be named pursuant to a publication ban, were arrested September 22.

A press release stated Skoretz and the two boys had some interaction at a Park in Yorkton that morning, but details of how the man died have still not been released.

The youths have not entered pleas or elected whether they want to be tried in Provincial Court or Court of Queen’s Bench, but Richard Yahonitsky, attorney for one of the accused and acting as agent for the other defendant, asked that April 26 and 27 be set aside for a preliminary hearing.

Judge Ross Green reserved those days and scheduled an election hearing for December 20 during which the youths will appear by video from the Paul Dojack Youth Centre in Regina where they have been remanded since their arrests.