The Crown plans to file a preferred indictment to send a Cole Harbour man directly to trial on charges of second-degree murder and interfering with human remains.
Owen Patrick Nelson, 43, was arrested last month and charged in the February 2018 disappearance of his girlfriend, Karen Lee MacKenzie, 40, of Dartmouth.
MacKenzie’s body has never been recovered, but police believe she was murdered.
Nelson reported MacKenzie missing on March 3, 2018. He told police she had not been seen nor heard from since Feb. 25.
Police immediately treated the disappearance as suspicious and searched multiple locations in Halifax, Hants and Lunenburg counties.
Nelson was initially arrested on March 13, 2018, in the Highfield Park Drive area of Dartmouth and charged with interfering with MacKenzie’s remains, public mischief, assault and three counts of breach of probation in relation to the disappearance.
He pleaded not guilty to the original charges last June and was awaiting trial when he was arrested at his Cole Harbour Road residence April 17 on the new charges.
Nelson was back in Dartmouth provincial court Friday with his lawyer, Michelle James.
Prosecutor Rick Hartlen told the judge the Crown is in the process of filing a preferred indictment to send the matter straight to trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, skipping a preliminary inquiry in provincial court.
Hartlen said the indictment will be finalized before next Thursday, when Nelson is scheduled to make his first appearance in Supreme Court in Halifax.
Outside court, James said her client will seek bail in Supreme Court in the near future.
Nelson was granted bail on the original charges last May after undergoing a court-ordered psychiatric assessment.
In asking for the assessment, James said Nelson had a history of mental health issues and had been diagnosed with severe anxiety disorder.
She said Nelson had experienced blackouts from that disorder and had told family members he hears voices in his head.
James said Nelson checked himself out of a Halifax psychiatric facility just before his March 2018 arrest.
Nelson was previously convicted of assaulting MacKenzie. A Jan. 3, 2018, probation order for that offence prohibited him from having contact with her without her consent.
Last month, Supt. Jim Perrin of Halifax Regional Police said the murder charge was laid after more than a year of investigation and ongoing consultations with the Public Prosecution Service.
“The evidence that we have collected over the last year, we are confident that the right charges were laid today based on what’s collected,” Perrin told reporters April 18.
According to court documents, police allege Nelson killed MacKenzie on Feb. 25, 2018, in Dartmouth.
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