Bail denied for retired legal professional looking for to enchantment kid intercourse convictions
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Disgraced Edmonton legal professional Helmut Berndt should behavior his enchantment of his kid intercourse abuse convictions from jail after a pass judgement on denied him bail.
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Alberta Courtroom of Enchantment Justice Jack Watson on Thursday issued a choice denying the 73-year-old’s request to are living locally till the court docket hears an enchantment of his 5 historical sexual abuse convictions, all of which concerned his youngsters.
Berndt used to be sentenced to fourteen years in jail remaining month for the crimes, which Courtroom of Queen’s Bench Justice Earl Wilson referred to as “outrageous.”
A former civil legal professional in Edmonton, Berndt appealed a couple of days after Wilson imposed sentence, arguing the pass judgement on made prison mistakes in each figuring out the duration of sentence and admitting positive proof ahead of the jury.
Whilst no longer taking pictures down the ones arguments solely, Watson discovered Berndt’s case does no longer “obviously” cross the prison take a look at of being “no longer frivolous” and thus used to be “no longer sturdy sufficient” to advantage unlock pending enchantment.
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“It’s not that i am persuaded that the numerous public pastime in enforceability of a choice of jurors at the severe offences that used to be visited via the sentence imposed is conquer via a wish to assessment it,” Watson wrote. “The verdict used to be, when all is alleged and finished, a choice on credibility and reliability of proof.”
A jury convicted Berndt after a 10-day trial April 14, discovering he abused his 3 youngsters over a 15-year duration starting within the mid-Nineteen Eighties.
On the time, Berndt used to be an outspoken opponent of sexual abuse schooling in Edmonton fundamental colleges.
In 2001, Kid and Circle of relatives Services and products investigated allegations of sexual abuse within the family, however Berndt wasn’t charged till 2019 after the kids got here ahead as adults. Berndt retired from his non-public damage regulation apply in 2018.
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All through trial, Berndt denied the allegations and claimed his 3 youngsters had been fallacious, mendacity or coming ahead simply to reinforce every different’s tales.
In a while after sentencing, Berndt appealed each Wilson’s sentence and the jury’s verdict, asking the Alberta Courtroom of Enchantment to strike down the convictions and order a brand new trial.
Coping with Berndt’s bail pending enchantment software previous to the bigger listening to, Watson conceded Berndt’s possibility to the general public may well be controlled locally, and that he would flip himself in when ordered via the court docket.
Then again, he used to be unconvinced via arguments from defence legal professional Brian Beresh that Berndt’s enchantment isn’t frivolous, and that his persisted detention is “no longer vital within the public pastime.”
A date for a listening to of Berndt’s enchantment has no longer been set.
jwakefield@postmedia.com
