Yellowknife man charged with aggravated assault awaits trial 4 years after incident

Pressure is mounting to get a jury trial underway for a man charged with aggravated assaultin connectionwith a 2018incident that left a Fort Good Hope, N.W.T.,man paralyzed from the neck down.

Kurt Stewart ofYellowknifewas chargedinMarch 2019 for analleged incidentin the Sahtu community of Colville Lake,that left Eddie Cooke Jr. a quadriplegic. Cooke has useda wheelchair ever since.

With the pandemic to blame for many court delays, the case now faces a different hurdle after Stewart fired his counsel late last week.Stewart attended N.W.T. Supreme Court by telephone on Monday alongside his new acting counsel, who insists he needs more time to prepare for trial.

"I need to be given time to do the work that hasn't been done. It's not going to make things go faster to have another lawyer step in," Ryan Clements, Stewart's defence lawyer,said.

Clementssays he's dealing with scheduling conflicts, and says he needs to locate a specific medical file along with a key expert in order to proceed.

Crown lawyer Blair MacPhersonsays the defence has had several years to pin down these medical documents.

"We would like the ball to be put in motion right now," MacPherson said.

The medical record in question refers to a doctor's note that predates the incident, claiming that Stewart's shoulder was in a state that prevented him from doing certain kinds of lifting or movement.

Cooke suffered catastrophic injuries after theincident in August 2018, leaving him with permanent damage to his spinal cord. He has no voluntary movement in his body from the neck down.

Justice KaranShanersaid the case is becoming more urgent as it becomes more dated, adding that a trial date needs to be set.

"This has to happen sooner rather than later," said Shaner.

Shaneradded that if Clements is unable to represent Stewart, he needs to communicate that to legal aid or have someone else from his office work on the case.

A pre-trial conference has been set for Sept. 19.

Stewart has been out on bail pending a jury trial.