Sex offender accused of skipping registration
Mark Douglas Harnish, 25, of Nasonworth, will remain in custody pending a bail hearing after being charged with allegedly breaching court order
A convicted sex offender accused of missing his required annual registration requirement for a second time was ordered held in custody Tuesday pending a bail hearing.
Mark Douglas Harnish, 25, of Route 101 in Nasonworth, appeared in Fredericton provincial court by telephone from the Oromocto RCMP detachment Tuesday afternoon.
He was charged with violating an order issued under the Sex Offender Information Registration Act on Feb. 28, 2022, by failing to report in person and provide an update on where he was living.
Crown prosecutor Darlene Blunston objected to Harnish’s release Tuesday.
“I have a child in my custody, and I work full-time,” the defendant told the court.
Judge Lucie Mathurin asked if the police were aware of his child, to which Harnish said they were and that someone was caring for the child until his bail hearing.
He also noted he planned to have his employer attend the hearing to provide evidence.
Mathurin scheduled Harnish’s bail hearing for Thursday afternoon, and she remanded him until that time.
Harnish is subject to the sex-offender registration order as a result of a 2019 conviction for a sexual assault he committed in 2017.
He was previously sentenced to a year in jail in June 2021 for a number of different offences, including a prior conviction for violating his sex-offender registration order between April and June 2000.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.