City man pleads not guilty to gun charges
John Robert Roberts, 35, accused of possessing shotgun with altered serial number
A Fredericton man will be back in court next to find out when his trial will be held on several charges alleging firearms crimes committed this summer.
John Robert Roberts, 35, of Canada Street, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Monday accompanied by defence lawyer Michael Mallory to answer to several charges, most of them involving illegal possession of firearms.
The defendant faces indictable counts of possession of a Cooey 12-gauge shotgun knowing its serial number had been defaced, possession of a Mossberg 12-gauge shotgun without a licence, possession of that Mossberg firearm knowing he didn’t have a licence to do so, careless storage of the Mossberg shotgun and breach of an Ontario court release order requiring him to remain in Toronto.
Those charges all allege events in Fredericton on July 4.
Roberts elected to be tried in provincial court and pleaded not guilty to all those counts.
He also denied a May 11 charge alleging he possessed a stolen Premium BMX bicycle in Fredericton belonging to James Davis.
Crown prosecutor Jennifer Bueno said it’s expected a day would be needed for trial, so Judge Natalie LeBlanc set the matter over to Nov. 16 for a case-management conference to see if the issues for trial could be narrowed.
A trial date will be set at that time.
It appears the Roberts case is connected to another prosecution that got underway this month as well.
Kaitlyn Diana McIntyre, 30, of Mainfield Lane in Minto, appeared in Fredericton provincial court last week for the first time on the same four firearms charges that Roberts denied Monday.
Her charges have been set over to Nov. 2 for election of mode of trial and pleas to give her time to retain defence counsel.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.