Gary Rudi Groenke, the former Sunshine Coast RCMP officer facing charges related to alleged sexual assaults in the 1980s, has had his preliminary hearing and will stand trial.
Groenke attended a preliminary hearing, which is held to determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial, in provincial court in Sechelt on Tuesday, April 27.
"It completed yesterday and it was committed to stand trial in Supreme Court. The next court appearance will be in Supreme Court on May 26," said crown counsel Marion West, the prosecutor working on the case.
West said Groenke's next appearance in Vancouver will be to fix a date for trial.
Groenke has been charged with buggery, gross indecency, two counts of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault.
Groenke plead "not guilty" to the charges in July 2009 and was released on strict bail conditions. He elected at that time to be tried by a B.C. Supreme Court judge alone as opposed to a jury trial. He currently lives in the Lower Mainland.
A publication ban covers all evidence in the preliminary hearing and anything that may identify alleged victims.
In February 2008, Groenke was acquitted in a Victoria courtroom on charges of sexual assault, sexual assault of a minor and invitation to sexual touching relating to an alleged incident in the early 1990s in Port Alberni.
