A youth remains at large following his escape Thursday from the North Battleford Youth Centre.
But we still cannot tell you his age nor the violent crimes he was convicted of. He has been described.
The government sought a court order to release his name and image but per the Youth Criminal Justice Act, are still restricted in what they can tell the public.
When he escaped, the teen was on escorted leave with two youth custody workers attending a funeral on the Red Pheasant First Nation.
We are learning more about his escape and per policy, he should have been shackled with a body belt. That body belt is described as a belt around the waist with a chain going down to the feet, the feet locked and the hand cuffed as well hooked to the belt.
The investigation must now determine whether that policy was followed.
“Our investigation will determine whether that was the case and what caused him to flee the custody of those two youth workers”, explained Dew Wilby with the Ministry of Corrections. “He left the care of the young offender workers and fled the scene, how exactly that occurred and whether that body belt was in tact at the time, I’m unclear at this time, the investigation will bear this out.”
It isn’t clear whether there was any collusion from outside sources known to the teen, but Wilby doesn’t think the two young offender workers were involved.
UPDATE: A court order allowed the teen to be identified while he was on the loose, however the order was rescinded when was put back in police custody and could no longer identified. This story has been edited to reflect that.
Young offender still on the run
By CJME News
Jul 22, 2016 | 1:23 PM