Bathurst man appears in court for failing to comply with conditions of release

A Bathurst man mentioned by police during a news conference about a missing teen appeared in court Monday for failing to comply with the conditions of his release.

Steven Laurette appeared in Bathurst provincial court to answer to the charge of not following an order that he not be in the presence of girls under the age of 18 unless he is accompanied by someone over 18 who is aware of the investigation against him.

A publication ban prevents CBC News from reporting what was said in court, though Laurette was visibly aggressive.

On May 27, Bathurst police Chief Stéphane Roy mentioned Laurette during a news conference about Madison Roy-Boudreau, a 14-year-old girl who's been missing from the Bathurst area for nearly a month.

Despite mentioning him, Roy said Laurette has not been connected to Roy-Boudreau's disappearance, and declined to answer any questions about a possible link between the two.

"Because the public knows that he's been arrested and they had questions about why he was arrested in the same time period," said Roy, when asked at the time why Laurette was mentioned during the news conference.

Bathurst police on Monday said there have been no updates in the search for Roy-Boudreau.

On May 14, Steven Laurette appeared in court and was charged with breaching an undertaking made in court sometime between May 10 and 11.

That day, he was also accused of having violated the condition that he is not allowed to be in the presence of girls under the age of 18, unless he is accompanied by a person 18 or older and aware of the charges against him.

According to court records, Laurette was charged in September 2019 with sexual assault and sexual interference. The latter offence, according to the Criminal Code, applies to, "Every person who, for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of 16 years." 

The Crown opted to proceed with the indictable section, which means it's punishable by a maximum sentence of 14 years in prison. The summary offence carries a maximum of less than two years. 

The incident is alleged to have occurred between Dec. 1, 2018, and March 12, 2019, at or near Petit-Rocher.

A preliminary inquiry has been scheduled in that case on Aug. 17.