BRIDGEWATER, N.S. - The Crown attorney in the case of a Nova Scotia mother charged with killing her 12-year-old daughter says there is a "voluminous" amount of evidence to sift through before the case proceeds.
Paul Scovil said he and the defence have to examine electronic and paper files before they can begin a preliminary inquiry in the case of Penny Boudreau.
"It will be a very sizeable amount," Scovil said outside Bridgewater provincial court Tuesday after a brief hearing.
"In these types of investigations, disclosure is often large and voluminous."
In court, Scovil and defence attorney Pat Atherton agreed to hold a teleconference on July 11 to review the disclosure of evidence, and to return to court on July 15 to set dates for a preliminary inquiry.
Boudreau is charged with the first-degree murder of Karissa Boudreau, whose body was found on the side of a snow-covered riverbank in Bridgewater on Feb. 9.
Boudreau told police her daughter disappeared from her car on Jan. 27 while she was in a local grocery store, and returned to find her gone.
Boudreau, 33, was charged June 14.
Atherton declined comment on the case.
Boudreau is being held in a detention centre in Dartmouth, N.S.
The judge in the case cancelled an order for her to appear at Tuesday's hearing at Atherton's request.
About 60 people were packed inside the courtroom.
Family members, including the little girl's father and step-father, filled the first three rows of seats, but said nothing as they left through the back door.
Outside, about 20 people sat along a stone wall.
"This has touched everybody's life," Michelle Dorey said after coming to the court from nearby Mahone Bay with her two children and husband. "She's (Karissa's) always on everyone's minds and prayers."
