A former Corrections Canada employee charged with helping a prisoner escape from Bowden Institution, is to appear in Red Deer court next month to enter a plea.
After an 19-month police investigation, Peter Edgar, 61, was indicted last week with two counts of permitting or assisting escape, contrary to section 146 of the Criminal Code.
Court documents allege that Edgar failed to perform a legal duty to inform the prison warden of a planned escape. He is also accused of having assisted in an unlawful escape by smuggling a cell phone and cash to the prisoner.
Innisfail RCMP have alleged the former Bowden Institution employee developed an “inappropriate financial relationship” with convict Sylvain Martin.
Martin escaped from the institution’s minimum security annex on April 16, 2015. He was arrested on a Canada-wide warrant in Quebec and returned to Corrections Canada custody in the fall of the same year.
Edgar, a Red Deer County resident, was to have made his first court appearance on Wednesday.
While he did not personally appear before Red Deer provincial court Judge Bert Skinner, his defence lawyer Robin Snider told the judge her client would reserve his plea. Edgar will also potentially decide whether he wants to be tried by judge alone, or by judge and jury, at his next appearance.
His next court date is on Tuesday morning, Nov. 21, in Red Deer provincial court.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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