Sex-crime suspect loses lawyer ahead of trial
Robert Quondam, 51, denied indictable charges of sexual assault, bodily-harm assault
A Fredericton man on remand as he awaits his trial early next year now finds himself without legal counsel after his defence lawyer applied Thursday to be removed from the record.
Robert Gordon Quondam, 52, of Union Street, appeared in person in custody in Fredericton provincial court Thursday for a case-management conference ahead of his trial, scheduled for Jan. 2.
He’d previously elected to be tried in provincial court and pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault and assault causing bodily harm, alleged to have occurred in Fredericton on April 8. He also faces a count of breaching a probation order.
There’s a court-ordered publication ban in the case protecting the identity of the complainant.
When Judge Lucie Mathurin called the case Thursday, defence lawyer Angèle Normand said the planned case-management conference wasn’t going ahead because she was asking the court to remove her as counsel of record.
“There was a breakdown in the solicitor-client relationship,” she said, adding Quondam can reapply to Legal Aid New Brunswick to get new counsel.
It appears the issue between the lawyer and client stemmed from comments the defendant had made to her previously.
“I apologize for being upset on the phone,” Quondam said, but Mathurin cut him off, noting the court shouldn’t hear about privileged communications between him and Normand.
When the judge made it clear she was granting Normand’s request to be removed from the case, that’s when the defendant asked how he could lodge a complaint against his former counsel.
Mathurin said that’s not a matter for the court.
Quondam then asked if the case-management conference could proceed so he could discuss a resolution of the case with the Crown and the court, the judge said that was allowed.
As such, she cleared the court, as case-management conferences aren’t public proceedings.
Shortly thereafter, court adjourned, with no resolution. Mathurin set the matter over to Nov. 16 for a new case-management conference to give Quondam time to retain new counsel.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.