Another court appearance for Fonthill butcher Richard Lowes, another puzzling adjournment.
Lowes, charged with four different offences related to sexual assault, was in a St. Catharines courtroom on Thursday for less than two minutes before his matter was adjourned at the request of his lawyer, Mark Evans.
“But, I thought we were here today to set a date for trial?” asked a visibly perplexed Justice Wolfe when the defence sought yet another adjournment. Back on May 6, a brief court appearance that day was adjourned, with the parties agreeing to meet again a month later on June 6 to set a trial date.
However, Evans explained this morning that he had been on vacation and didn’t have a chance to speak with Lowes, who was, at the time, seated about three feet away in the gallery of the courtroom.
With what appeared to be some reluctance, the judge gave Evans two more weeks to get things sorted out, and scheduled an appearance on June 18 to finally set a date for trial.
Exiting the courtroom, Evans told Lowes he would call him on Saturday, and the two parted ways separately.
Lowes, former owner of the Country Corner Market in Fonthill, was charged more than 38 months ago with three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference with a person under the age of 16. His case had already been deferred 47 times before finding its way back to the St. Catharines courthouse today.
Correction: An earlier version of this article identified Richard Lowes as owner of the Country Corner Market. In fact, according to documents provided to PelhamToday by a lawyer representing Lowes' son Dalton Lowes, ownership of the Country Corner Market was transferred to Dalton Lowes on June 7.
