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Trial for alleged Yellowknife fentanyl dealer pushed back

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RCMP photo. Members of the RCMP Clandestine Laboratory Enforcement and Response (CLEAR) investigate Oake's Borden Drive property on Nov. 26. 2016.

A trial for an alleged Yellowknife fentanyl dealer won't go ahead as planned after the accused and his lawyer parted ways late last week.

Darcy Oake, 24, was set to face a judge alone in Supreme Court for a week-long trial beginning Tuesday, but his lawyer, Charles Davison, filed an application on Jan. 3, to be removed as counsel for the accused.

Davison cited a "breakdown in communication" between him and his client as grounds for the application.

The application to remove Davison as Oake's lawyer was approved by Justice Shannon Smallwood on the same day.

Oake was arrested and charged in November 2016 after Yellowknife Mounties executed a search warrant at the accused’s Borden Drive residence. RCMP seized a drug, which, as stated in a news release issued by Mounties the next month, was identified as Furanylfentanyl, a less potent form of fentanyl.

Oake faces charges of  unlawfully importing a Schedule 1 substance, trafficking a Schedule 1 substance and possessing for the purpose of trafficking a Schedule 1 substance. Oake is also charged with causing bodily harm by criminal negligence in allegedly providing the drug.

Oake's then-lawyer Davison attempted to have his client released on bail over the holidays late last month, but the application was denied.

Oake now has until Jan. 14 – his next court date – to secure a lawyer through legal aid.

It's unclear when the trial will now begin following last week's adjournment.