GORE BAY—In a trial that was set to wrap up in three days, the case of the the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) vs. Green Bay farmer Paul Skippen is now requiring an additional day in court with day four set for Thursday, September 1 in Gore Bay.
In day three of the proceedings, a large part of the day was spent with Mr. Skippen in the witness box being grilled by the MNRF’s prosecutor Dan Williams, going over, again and again, the details of the case of the dead goose.
Mr. Skippen is facing four charges for the unlawful shooting of a Canada goose outside of the hunting period under the Migratory Birds Convention 1994. These charges included unlawfully hunting a migratory bird outside of the open season, failing to immediately make every effort to retrieve a migratory bird, unlawfully disarming a firearm in the travelled portion of a right of way for public vehicular traffic and knowingly making a false statement to a conservation officer.
Repeatedly over the course of the day, Mr. Skippen’s defense lawyer Brad Allison asked Justice of the Peace Darlene Hayden to ask the prosecution to refrain from “badgering” Mr. Skippen as well as asking Mr. Williams to let the witness answer the questions posed to him without being interrupted.
Mr. Williams appeared to be trying to confuse Mr. Skippen in his questioning, referring to the previous week’s court transcripts whenever a discrepancy arose.
The third day in court ended with Mr. Allison bringing forth a motion to dismiss the federal charges involving the dead Canada goose (as migratory birds fall under federal jurisdiction). Mr. Allison posed to Justice Hayden that the federal charges should be dropped as a provincial conservation officer does not have the jurisdiction to lay a federal charge.
Justice Hayden will make her decision on this motion at the September 1 court date. The trial is expected to wrap up that same day.
