Lower Sackville man to stand trial in chained-teen case

The third man accused of sexually assaulting a teenage boy who was chained up at a cabin on Nova Scotia's South Shore will return to court in August to set a date for trial by judge and jury.

John Leonard MacKean, of Lower Sackville, appeared in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Bridgewater on Thursday for a preliminary inquiry on charges of sexual assault and communicating for the purpose of obtaining sexual services from a person under 18.

One witness testified at the preliminary inquiry and a DVD was entered as evidence. Evidence presented during the hearing is subject to a publication ban.

MacKean, 64, said nothing as he entered and left the courtroom. He sat quietly with his hands resting on his stomach as he watched the witness testify.

"It went as expected," said Lloyd Tancock, the Crown prosecutor. "The one Crown witness we called provided some of the evidence that we needed to get a committal and the rest of the evidence came from some documentation that we were able to file without any objection."

MacKean is due back in court on Aug. 22.

He was released in November on a $1,000 surety and conditions, including no internet or mobile access — including texting — unless it's for work purposes. He was ordered not to have contact with anyone under the age of 18, unless he or she is a relative and another adult is present.

He was arrested in November at a hotel in Fredericton, N.B.

MacKean was charged after a 16-year-old boy told police he was kept at a house in Upper Chelsea, Lunenburg County, for eight days in September before he managed to escape. He said he walked more than a kilometre to a home, where he sought help.

The teenager had chains wrapped around his wrists and ankles and was wearing only a hooded sweatshirt and a hat when he was found.

That sparked a manhunt for two co-accused in the case, David James Leblanc and Wayne Alan Cunningham.

Cunningham was found dead in northern Ontario during that manhunt and police ruled out foul play in his death.

Leblanc pleaded guilty to kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault, uttering threats and breach of conditions and was sentenced in June to 11 years in prison.

An agreed statement of facts presented in Leblanc's case said Leblanc lured the teen to the cabin by offering him a painting job and drove him from Halifax to Lunenburg County. The walls of the cabin contained photographs of male genitals and sexual acts.

According to the documents, the boy was chained inside a bedroom at the cabin and repeatedly sexually assaulted.