Aging ex-RCMP member wants trial held outside Nunavut

The lawyer representing Lauren McKiel, 79, a retired RCMP member facing three sex charges dating to the late 1960s in Cape Dorset, says McKiel, who suffers from a heart condition, wants his trial held outside of Nunavut. (FILE PHOTO)

An aging former Nunavut RCMP officer facing historic sex crimes asked the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit May 2 for his trial to be held outside of Nunavut because of his deteriorating health.

Nunavut police charged Lauren McKiel, 79, with three sex crimes in August 2015, alleged by a single complainant to have occurred in the late 1960s while McKiel was stationed in the south Baffin community of Cape Dorset.

McKiel, who did not appear in Iqaluit court May 2, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of sexual assault, one charge of having sex with a minor and one charge of indecent assault.

Defence lawyer Lana Walker, appearing on behalf of McKiel’s lawyer, Patrick Fagan, told Justice Sue Cooper that an application has been made on McKiel’s behalf to change the trial venue.

“[Mr. Fagan’s] client apparently has a cardiac condition which may require the trial to take place… where certain medical facilities are available,” Walker said May 2.

Fagan asked the court for time to send McKiel’s medical records to Crown prosecutors ahead of a pretrial conference, Walker said.

Cooper scheduled McKiel’s matter to be addressed by the Nunavut court again on June 13, before which the pretrial conference to discuss the change of venue should take place.

McKiel was born in New Brunswick in 1936, according to a 1999 Northern News Service feature on McKiel’s RCMP career.

But court documents suggest McKiel currently lives in Nova Scotia.