Fredericton man denies residential break-in charge
Derrick Melvin Delong, 60, told court Monday he thought charge would be dropped “because none of this happened”
A Fredericton man will stand trial early next year on an allegation he broke into a home and assaulted someone therein a couple of months ago.
Derrick Melvin Delong, 60, of Barker Street, appeared in Fredericton provincial court Monday, scheduled to elect mode of trial and enter a plea to a count that he broke into a home, also on Barker Street, and committed the indictable offence of assault with a weapon.
The charge doesn’t mention the nature of the weapon or the identity of the complainant.
Judge Lucie Mathurin noted the case had been adjourned previously to give the defendant a chance to apply for legal aid, but he said he hadn’t made much progress on it because he and his family fell ill with COVID-19 recently.
Delong said he’s since tested negative, but still feels sick.
The judge said he needed to secure legal counsel, because the charge is a serious one and required him to choose how he would want to be tried: in provincial court, in the Court of King’s Bench by a judge alone, or in King’s Bench with a judge and jury.
Delong decided to forge ahead without a lawyer Monday, electing to be tried in provincial court and pleading not guilty.
He said he will still pursue his legal aid application.
“I just thought that this would’ve been dropped, because none of this happened,” Delong told the court.
Mathurin scheduled his trial for Feb. 27, noting that gave him plenty of time to get defence counsel, because he’ll need it for his break-and-enter trial.
You can contact Don MacPherson at ftonindependent@gmail.com.