The province has finally given consent for the Crown to conduct a dangerous offender hearing for a Red Deer man convicted earlier this year of sexually assaulting an elderly woman.
Crown prosecutor Jason Snider told Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench on Friday that the deputy attorney general has given formal consent for Jesse Peter Toews, 26, to have a five-week hearing starting on Jan. 10.
Toews only recently had a psychiatric assessment completed following a few delays.
The hearing will determine if he should be declared a dangerous or long-term offender.
The assessment and provincial approval are necessary steps when the Crown seeks to have a person declared a dangerous or long-term offender.
Toews, who remains in custody, was convicted in January of sexually assaulting a 77-year-old woman on July 29, 2009, on a secluded path northwest of 67th Street and Gaetz Avenue.
A key piece of Crown evidence was that DNA from semen found on the clothes of the victim.
Toews was acquitted of robbery and unlawful confinement at the trial.
Toews had about two dozen prior convictions for various property crimes and crimes against people before the latest conviction.
He has been in custody since July 2009.
If he is declared a long-term offender, Toews faces a lengthy period of intensive supervision in the community, immediately following a fixed prison term.
If declared a dangerous offender, Toews would be jailed indefinitely.
jwilson@www.reddeeradvocate.com