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Inquest ordered into death of Desmond Roberts while in police custody

Public inquest to be held in La Ronge, Sask., into the death of Desmond Roberts, who died in June 2015 while in police custody. File / Global News

An inquest will be held into the death of Desmond Roberts, who died while he was in police custody.

Roberts, 43, was found unresponsive on May 31, 2015 in a La Ronge, Sask., RCMP detachment cell.

READ MORE: Coroner’s inquest once again mandatory for in-custody deaths

He was taken to La Ronge hospital and then transferred to Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon where he died on June 1, 2015.

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The Saskatoon Police Service conducted an external investigation into the circumstances of his death and reported the findings to Saskatchewan’s minister of justice.

The public inquest into Roberts’s death will be held at the La Ronge court house starting on April 3, 2017.

The inquest, which will be headed by Alma Wiebe, is required when a person dies while an inmate at a jail or correctional institute unless the death was due to natural causes and was not preventable.

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The coroner’s jury can make recommendations at the end of the inquest to prevent further in-custody deaths.

It is scheduled to last five days.

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