Four of the eight individuals charged in the Tiki Laverdiere murder case were back in provincial court Friday, and the main news to emerge is that more disclosure has been provided to counsel in connection to the ongoing investigation.
Jesse Sangster, Nikita Cook, Soaring Eagle Whitstone and Nicole Cook all appeared by video before Judge Murray Pelletier. All four suspects are set to appear again in provincial court Jan. 17, again by CCTV; no-contact orders involving several individuals were once again entered.
The indication from counsel during the latest court appearances was that a new hard drive, containing what prosecutor Chris Browne described as “one terabyte” of “very substantive“ new disclosure, was provided this week to defence lawyers.
The adjournments were requested by defence counsel to allow time to review that disclosure and for further discussions to take place.
The four suspects are charged with first degree murder, kidnapping, improperly interfering with a human body and other charges in the case. In the case of Nikita Cook her most serious charges are now before Queen’s Bench court and her appearance Friday was solely in connection to her provincial court charges.
Nikita Cook and Whitstone appeared by video from Pine Grove, Nicole Cook from Edmonton and Sangster from Saskatoon.
Three more suspects are back in court in connection to the Laverdiere case on Dec. 20: Shayla Orthner, Mavis Takakenew and Danita Thomas. Orthner and Thomas both face first degree murder counts while Takakenew faces an accessory charge.
