A trial date for an Onion Lake woman charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping of Tiki Laverdiere has been rescheduled.
Nikita Cook’s jury trial in Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench was scheduled to start Aug. 30, 2021, and has been pushed back a week to Sept. 7, 2021. Previously, it was to start Jan. 11, 2021, but was adjourned due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Cook, 32, was arrested Aug. 16, 2019, and is one of 10 people charged with Laverdiere’s murder.
Laverdiere, 25, from Edmonton, was in Saskatchewan April 27, 2019, to attend a funeral on Thunderchild First Nation. Her body was found on July 11, 2019, in a rural area near North Battleford.
From July 2019 to August 2020, police arrested 10 people in Saskatchewan and Alberta for Laverdiere's murder. Nicole Cook, Soaring Eagle Whitstone, Shayla Orthner, Danita Thomas, and Jesse Sangster were charged with kidnapping, first-degree murder, improperly interfering with a body and theft of a vehicle. Nikita Sandra Cook and Charles St. Savard were charged with first-degree murder and kidnapping. Brent Checkosis, Mavis Takakenew and Samuel Takakenew were charged with accessory to murder after the fact.
Jury and non-jury trials
Whitstone, Nikita Cook, Nicole Cook and Thomas elected to be tried by judge and jury. Their trials in Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench are set for September 2022, September 2021, March 2023, and January 2022 respectively.
Sangster and Orthner elected to be tried by judge alone. Their trials are set for January 2023 and April 2022 respectively.
Samuel Takakenew’s case remains at the provincial court level. He appears next in North Battleford Provincial Court Oct. 15.
Three sentenced
In May 2020 Checkosis was sentenced to seven years in prison and Mavis Takakenew was given 18 months. In January 2021 Charles St. Savard was sentenced to 14 months in jail.
The charges against the seven remaining co-accused haven’t been proven in court.
There is a ban on publication on the sentencing hearings for Checkosis, Mavis Takakenew and St. Savard until the trials of all the co-accused are finished.
