Thanks to a pair of off-duty police officers, two men allegedly bearing weapons were diverted from the Dartmouth provincial courthouse on Tuesday.
Halifax Regional Police say the two officers were leaving the courthouse building when they noticed several people arguing in the first-floor lobby. The courtrooms are located on the second floor.
Const. Brian Palmeter, a spokesman for Halifax Regional Police, said “Two individuals got on the elevator to go upstairs at which point the officers received information that one of the individuals had a knife.”
Two men were arrested on the second floor.
Wade Michael Steven Carter, 19, was charged with carrying a knife and 18-year-old Bryden Grant Mader was charged with carrying a concealed weapon — a carving fork.
Halifax provincial court on Spring Garden Road has a permanent metal detector but Dartmouth does not.
Jennifer Gavin, with the provincial justice department, said a risk assessment is done everyday and if a metal detector is needed, the sheriffs at Dartmouth court will use their detectors.
“Halifax court is busier and it was deemed necessary there and as of yet it isn’t in Dartmouth,” she said. “There would be cost implications and the configuration of the Dartmouth court doesn’t lend itself as well to it.”
There was a brawl in Dartmouth court in March. The fight took place outside a courtroom after a sentence was rendered.
