Multiple allegations of child abuse occurring across two provinces and dating back more than 20 years are now being examined in Red Deer provincial court.
A 61-year-old woman is facing 13 charges involving a number of children, including sexual assault, sexual interference, aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm and simple assault, laid earlier this year by Sylvan Lake RCMP.
A sample from documents now on file with the court shows charges of sexual assault and sexual interference against a child bearing the same last name as the accused woman. That set of offences is alleged to have taken place in Lacombe County between Jan. 24, 1991, and Jan. 24, 1996.
The woman’s name is being withheld to protect the identities of her alleged victims, whose names are protected by a court-imposed publication ban.
All adults now, the complainants were children at the time of the alleged offences, said Cpl. James Allemekinders of the Sylvan Lake RCMP detachment.
Allemekinders said his files show multiple incidents at sites in both Alberta and British Columbia.
Represented by Red Deer lawyer Dave Inglis, the accused woman appeared in Red Deer court on Thursday, but did not enter a plea.
Inglis told the court that he anticipates there will be a preliminary hearing, but that he would like to go through the files with Crown prosecutor Robin Joudrey beforehand to streamline the details.
Preliminary hearings are not mandatory, but may be requested to test the strength of the Crown’s case against an accused person before proceeding to trial.
Inglis and his client, who is not in custody, are due back in court on Aug. 28 to enter a plea.