Whitehorse Daily Star

Dustball violence suspects rounded up, freed on bail

They got 'em.

By Whitehorse Star on September 8, 2006

They got 'em.

And now they're released.

Whitehorse RCMP finished making their arrests on the warrants issued in relation to violence at the dance for the Dustball slo-pitch tournament in July.

By Thursday afternoon, all had been released on bail.

Arrest warrants had been issued in early August for four men who are facing numerous assault charges, stemming from violence at the annual dance.

After arresting Kevin Gordan Smith at a Whitehorse residence last month, local RCMP officers made the final arrest on the outstanding warrants at around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday. That's when they caught up Calvin Jefferson Hayes at the court building on Second Avenue.

Hayes, 27 and from Surrey, B.C. is charged with aggravated assault and two counts of assault causing bodily harm.

At 10 p.m. Tuesday, police were on hand at Whitehorse International Airport, where they arrested Michael Davis Brereton and Jesse Allan Ritchie after they'd flown into town from Vancouver.

Ritchie, also 27 and from Surrey, is charged with aggravated assault and two counts of assault causing bodily harm, while Brereton, 22, of Whitehorse, is charged with assault causing bodily harm.

'I don't think it surprised them,' Whitehorse RCMP Sgt. Ross Milward said Thursday.

All three arrests were made without any problems, he noted.

It was thanks to many tips and cooperation from the public that police were able to make the arrests, Milward stressed.

'We want to thank the public that has come forward,' he said. 'Without that, we can't put the investigation together.'

Clinton Robert Derkson, 21, is facing a charge of assault causing bodily harm.

Ritchie and Hayes were the last of the five to be released on bail yesterday.

Crown prosecutor Edith Campbell consented to both being freed, subject to numerous conditions. Others are under similar conditions.

Among the conditions are a no-contact order with one another as well as the complainants, terms on residency, that they must remain in the Yukon, not to consume alcohol or drugs and to stay away from any commercial establishment where the primary business is selling alcohol.

The next court appearance on the matter is set for Sept. 20.

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