A check in with the family of Megan Gallagher showed they were feeling left in the dark after a hearing Thursday at Saskatoon Provincial Court.
The Gallagher family attended court Thursday for the appearance of 53-year-old Robert Gordon, who is accused of posting hate speech and racially-motivated comments on Megan’s obituary.
He is now facing unrelated charges including four counts of making child pornography and two counts of possession.
The judge waived the reading of the new charges in the courtroom, leaving those sitting in the gallery with little information on the proceedings at the time.
“I stay up all the time trying to figure this all out, looking up criminal codes and process,” said Megan’s stepmother, Deb Gallagher. “Your brain will always search for answers that aren’t being provided so you never have that closure.
“I don’t know who are they trying to protect by not reading out the charges… Do the people in the gallery not deserve to know?”
Megan’s body was found in September 2022 on the South Saskatchewan River after a two-year search. Nine people have been charged in her murder.
Megan’s father, Brian Gallagher said they have been to over 100 court hearings and beginning to grasp some of the procedures, but in Thursday’s case, they felt lost.
“It sure would be nice if they would read them out in court so the regular person could get a handle on what is happening.
“We don’t know really what (the new charges) were, they were just numbers on a docket sheet,” said Megan’s father, Brian Gallagher. “We have Googled them but we can’t confirm what they are yet.”
Crown Prosecutors are seeking indictment on all charges.
“These new charges have nothing to do with us as far as we know,” said Deb.
“We’re going to have to do a little education and digging,” Gallagher added.
The Saskatoon Police confirmed that the website monitors never allowed the hate comments against Megan to be posted publicly.
The Gallaghers have been in contact with the police doing the investigation but said if they hadn’t had been tipped off, they would not have known about it.
They said in a previous interview, that Gordon did not know Megan.
His next appearance is scheduled for May 11.