For the first time in almost a year, Shayne Lund, Avery Taylor and Kathryn Thompson were all in the same room together on Friday.

The three have been jointly charged and those charges include making, possessing and distributing child pornography, sexual assault, conspiring to abduct, conspiring to administer a noxious substance and bestiality.

Shayne Lund and Avery Taylor both sat handcuffed in court, both are still in custody. Kathryn Thompson is the only one of the three who is out on bail.

Friday marked the start of the preliminary hearing, a hearing to figure out if there is enough evidence to go to trial.

Lund, Taylor and Thompson don’t face exactly the same charges. Some they face together, others they face alone. Before this week there were more than a hundred charges but now the crown has filed charges and there are now 88.

Defence lawyers say this can happen as the Crown focuses their case.

“Interestingly enough Mr. Lund’s charges have gone down, Ms. Thompson has had one or two added and Ms. Taylor has an additional four charges,” says Angela McLeod, Kathryn Thompson’s lawyer.

“My client was initially facing 120 charges; they had then decided on a 109, we’re now down to 74. So we are working hard to have real triable issues without wasting time and repeating and dealing with overcharges,” says Lund’s lawyer Eginhar Ehlers.

The other issue lawyers talked about was how alleged victims would give their evidence.

“There are really two categories of complainants in this matter, there are very young, younger than ten and no one has asked to cross examine them, none of the defence council are seeking in any way to have those children come forward and testify. The people we have been arguing about for the past two days are in their mid-to-late teens and early twenties,” adds McLeod.

The Crown had asked that DVD and audio statements from the older victims be used so they don’t have to appear in person in court. The Defence didn’t want that, they wanted a chance to ask older victims questions.

The judge made a decision on that on Friday.

“So their DVD statements and their statements to the police will be played in court and then they will be available for cross examine,” adds Ehlers.

“They are teenagers, they are young woman, they’re not children and because of their involvement that although testifying is uncomfortable for everyone, the charges are so serious that it’s important that their evidence be tested,” says McLeod.

The preliminary hearing is expected to be long; almost six weeks of dates have been scheduled.

The three will be back in court towards the end of November.