(CJCD Mix 100 News) Yellowknife, N.W.T. – The RCMP have been headlined in the news a lot over the last couple of years: last year, NWT residents remembered and mourned Const. Christopher Worden as Emrah Bulatci was found guilty of murdering the Mountie in 2007.
In 2010, the local RCMP got more press, this time as suspects in three different cases.
Sgt. Larry O’Brien, accused of stealing $2,000 from the Yellowknife detachment, was charged with several crimes.
After the charges were laid in June, the Yellowknife detachment commander Inspector David Elliott admitted the year-long investigation had been hard on local members.
“It’s very tough to have a, to be standing here and say an RCMP member’s been charged,” he said. “But the community expects us to have a high standard, and if we violate that trust, we should be answerable.”
O’Brien pleaded not guilty to the charges and is due back in court in May.
In November, Const. Jason Muzzerall had to go to trial to face a charge of assault causing bodily harm and was found not guilty.
In a third incident this year, a Const. from the Behchoko detachment, Trent Hayward, was charged with impaired driving.
He’s due in court in January.
2010 also wasn’t a soft year for crime around Canada, and one Yellowknife man added to the mix of harrowing tales.
In the summer, Travis Bourke pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and break and enter for attacking a woman in her home in Mayerthorpe Alberta, in November, 2009.
Crown Prosecutor Jeff Morrison explained the woman was sleeping when she woke up to find Bourke at the foot of her bed clutching a weapon.
“Mr. Bourke raises a hammer to strike her. A struggle ensues during the course of this; the complainant is able to take the hammer from Mr. Bourke and is able to hit him in the forehead.”
Bourke then slashed the woman’s throat with a knife before fleeing the home.
Morrison said someone noticed Bourke on the highway in Mayerthorpe and called the police.
“Someone had noted a person hitchhiking, who was drenched in blood and had a large hammer-head shaped marking on his forehead, he was looking for a ride. Police showed up and found Mr. Bourke.”
The woman, a nurse at the local hospital, survived the ordeal.
An Alberta judge later sentenced Bourke to a dozen years in jail and specified the Yellowknife man must spend at least six behind bars before he can be considered for parole.
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