Drunk-driving
suspects arrested
RCMP investigated 49 vehicle collisions and charged 20 impaired drivers in the week ending last Friday.
Other traffic stats from Nov. 1 to 7 include:
• Hit and run investigations: 13;
• 24-hour suspensions: one;
• Liquor tickets issued: six;
• Non-moving violations, such as suspended driving, unregistered vehicle: 55;
• Speeding tickets: 0;
• No insurance tickets: nine;
• Red light and stop sign tickets: 12;
• Seatbelt tickets: two;
• Bylaws, Environmental Protection Act and other tickets: 81.
Murder suspect
appears in court
A man charged with the attempted murder of a Red Deer woman two years ago made a brief court appearance Monday.
Salah Reshid Hussain, 26, of Brooks was charged in connection with a May 2007 shooting at a north Red Deer apartment complex during which a 24-year-old woman suffered minor injuries.
Police said earlier they believe the shooting was over an alleged drug debt. Police believe that bullet holes in an apartment were fired sometime between May 18, 2007, and May 25, 2007.
Defence lawyer Arnold Piragoff said his client, who is in custody, was previously denied bail by a justice of the peace. He was arrested in Calgary in October on a Canada-wide warrant.
Piragoff told Red Deer provincial court Judge Jim Mitchell he only received some transcripts last Friday and requested time to review the information.
Hussain is scheduled to return to court Nov. 19.
Psychiatric assessment
not yet completed
Efforts to get a psychiatric assessment continue to draw out the case of a man accused of sexually assaulting and robbing a Red Deer senior.
Defence lawyer Arnold Piragoff told Red Deer provincial court Judge Jim Mitchell Monday that he had been informed through a doctor’s letter that it appears that the South Alberta Psychiatry Centre in Calgary has not completed the examination of his client.
Jesse Peter Toews, 25, was ordered by a judge in September to undergo a psychiatric assessment to determine if he is fit to instruct a lawyer or stand trial. However, in subsequent court appearances there has been some confusion over whether the assessment had been done.
Mitchell agreed to a defence request to bring the case back on Dec. 8 to provide time to complete the psychiatric assessment. Toews’s mother had told his lawyer her son suffered from a bi-polar disorder and split personality.
Toews has been charged with sexual assault, assault, forcible confinement, robbery, making death threats and mischief to property in connection with several incidents.
It is alleged that Toews is responsible for a July 29 attack on a woman in a wooded area near 67th Street and 52nd Avenue. The woman’s watch and purse were stolen before the suspect fled.
Toews is also accused of throwing someone into a closet and stealing a cellphone before running off in another incident on Aug. 6. He also faces a cruelty to animals charge after a kitten was allegedly thrown against a wall and killed. He has also been charged with failing to appear in court.
Pharmacy robber
remains on the loose
Police are still searching for a woman who robbed the pharmacy at the Eastview Shopping Centre.
RCMP say that a female went into the Apple Drugs at 3831 40th Ave. about 6 p.m. Saturday and walked up to the pharmacy desk. The suspect pulled out a knife and demanded Oxycontin and morphine from the pharmacist.
The pharmacist complied and the women left without further incident with significant quantities of both drugs, said police.
The RCMP dog team was called in but could not find the suspect. It is not known if she had a vehicle or fled on foot.
The female is described as Caucasian, heavy set and five-foot-three to five-foot-four (160 to 163 cm). She was wearing a red ski jacket, purple pants, dark hooded sweater and dark baseball hat.
Anyone with information should contact the Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). Online reports can be made at www.tipsubmit.com
Domestic violence
incidents reported
RCMP responded to 626 calls in the week ending last Sunday, including 40 domestic violence complaints.
Police were also kept busy investigating 46 thefts and eight residential break and enters.
Other calls for the week of Nov. 2 to 8 include:
• Assault: six;
• Auto theft: six;
• Break and enter, business: 10;
• Bylaw: 92;
• Drug investigations: 11;
• Fraud: seven;
• Mischief: 38;
• Robbery: 10;
• Suspicious, person, vehicle or activity: 38;
• Victim services assistance: 77.