NEW GLASGOW – A man accused of stealing a truck and driving dangerously in the county last May will spend the next few months behind bars as he awaits trial.
Arthur Stewart Baxter, 42, was arrested in the early morning hours of June 1 in a wooded area near Alma. The evening before, he was allegedly involved with stealing a truck from the Loch Broom area.
Family members were alerted as the truck was being taken from the driveway of the residence and called the RCMP, before jumping in two other vehicles and taking after the stolen truck.
The family members told police that the chase took place at high speeds, and claim that the driver of the truck occasionally attempted to sideswipe their vehicles, before he allegedly dove out of the truck on the MacLean road while the truck was still running.
The truck ended up in a ditch and the driver escaped into the woods.
Baxter, who is alleged to have been the driver of truck, was found in the woods by the RCMP police dog quite a distance from the scene of the incident. He was later arrested and charged with theft over $5,000 and dangerous driving.
Baxter had been paroled from a federal jail the month previously and was returned to custody until he was again granted parole last week.
A bail hearing was scheduled in Pictou provincial court Tuesday on the Alma charges, to which Baxter had previously pleaded not guilty.
Baxter has a lengthy previous record with a total of 95 prior convictions stretching back to the early 1980s. Most of the convictions involve breaking and entering, possession of stolen property and parole violations in a string of incidents that stretch across most provinces in Canada.
The most recent convictions were in New Glasgow in January 2007, when he was given a three-year federal term for several possession of stolen property charges, and in Liverpool in March 2008, when he was given a year’s custody for two incidents of break, enter and theft.
Crown attorney Jody McNeill told the court he was “vehemently opposed” to Baxter’s release as he awaits trial on the alleged theft of a vehicle and dangerous driving charges.
Baxter, however, told the court he wanted to make a change and “don’t want to go down this road again.” He indicated that he planned to reside with his mother and brother in Pictou County and had plans to seek employment as a blueberry picker.
Judge Laurel Halfpenny-MacQuarrie indicated that while the decision to remand Baxter into custody as he awaited his trial was not a decision on whether or not he was guilty or innocent of the charges, she ordered he be remanded until his trial date because she felt there was a significant risk that he could reoffend.
Halfpenny-MacQuarrie also ordered that his trial, originally scheduled for July, be moved up so he was not held in custody longer than necessary, particularly since Parliament has ordered that remand time be given a one for one credit. His trial is now scheduled for July 13.
Baxter requested he be allowed to serve his time on remand in a federal institution, which is not the policy of the provincial Crown’s office. He instead opted to refute his parole, which prompted his immediate return to federal prison.
