A trial date for dismissed Estevan Police Service officer Mohammed Khan has been set for May 10. At the regular Oct. 19 sitting of the Esetvan Court, a legal aid represetntative entered a not guilty plea on the one count of assault against Khan.
The Crown said that Khan was requesting four witnesses for trial.
In May, Khan was involved in the arrest of an individual following a drug complaint. After he made the arrest, allegations of assault, abuse of authority and discreditable conduct were made against Khan.
After an internal and public investigation by the EPS and Public Complaints Commission, the allegations against Khan were confirmed and he was subsequently charged with one count of assault.
In other court related actions, Shane Andrews was sentenced to a total of five months in prison for a series of offences, the most serious of which was a break and enter in December of 2014. Andrews was apprehended by police after breaking into the garage of a private home and taking a television. In the pre-sentence report, the Crown said police tracked Andrews and another individual to the Uptown Motel, matching the footprints in the snow to the treads of Andrews’ shoes, in conjunction with surveillance footage showing the pair with the stolen item outside the motel.
Andrews had several other convictions against him for failing to comply with court orders. These included failure to attend addictions counselling as part of his probation from a previous sentence, failure to comply with court orders to abide a curfew, failure to maintain an approved residence and abstain from alcohol or drugs.
A legal aid representative mentioned that a mitigating factor was the fact that Andrews was self-employed as a roofer. It was also noted there was a dispute with his mother’s partner at her residence, which was one of the designated residences at which he was ordered to stay, leading to one of his breaches. Andrews acknowledged that he had problems with his addictions and complying with court orders, but the Crown was not convinced he was willing to do anything to change his circumstances, and recommended incarceration.
Presiding Judge Lane Wiegers sympathized, noting it was clear Andrews had been struggling with addictions issues, but noted that the break and enter, and Andrews’ history of repeatedly disobeying court orders with what seemed to be an indifferent attitude towards fixing his problems necessitated jail time. Wiegers said Andrews had plenty of chances to reform in his past, but noted that he’d get credit for time served while in custody.
Andrews was sentenced to three months in jail for the break-and-enter charge, and 15 days in jail for each of his four breaches of court orders. Since two of the four breaches came out of the same incident, he will serve those two concurrently.
