A preliminary hearing is to be scheduled next month for a woman accused of abusing numerous children, including members of her own family.
The 61-year-old woman is charged with multiple counts of assault, aggravated assault and assault causing bodily, as well as a single count each of sexual assault and sexual interference.
The Crown alleges that the offences involved a number of children and spanned a number of years, starting in January 1991 and continuing through 1996.
The woman cannot be named to protect the identities of her alleged victims, whose names are protected under a court-imposed publication ban.
Defence counsel David Inglis appeared on her behalf in Red Deer provincial court on Wednesday to enter her plea of not guilty and ask that she be tried by judge alone in the Court of Queen’s Bench.
He is to return to court on Sept. 11 to set a date for a preliminary hearing, an option that the defence may seek to weigh the strength of the Crown’s case before proceeding to trial.