Widow disappointed after accessory charge stayed
The charges against an 18-year-old accused of acting as an accessory to a violent murder were stayed this morning in a La Ronge courtroom.
The charge stemmed from the April murder of well-known restauranteur Simon Grant, 64. Grant was attacked by masked men after-hours at his restaurant Louisiana’s Bar-B-Que. Grant was airlifted to Saskatoon for medical treatment, but later succumbed to his injuries.
Austin Bird, 18, and two male youths who cannot be named under the young offender’s act, were charged with murder by the RCMP. Matthew Nagy-Charles, 18, was later charged as an accessory after the fact. Bird has pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years, and the two youths are still making their way through the courts, with one pre-trial set to begin in January.
This morning, the accessory charge against Nagy-Charles was stayed, or not pursued, by the Crown. Prosecutor Daniel Forbes could not provide specific details of the case, but said the charge was stayed because “there was no reasonable prospect of conviction.”