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BRANDON — A 29-year-old man has been sentenced to 18 years in prison for sexually abusing and impregnating a 14-year-old girl in 2024.

“Sexual abuse of a child is inherently a grave violation of the child’s bodily integrity, dignity, and security, and in this case, the consequences were compounded by the victim’s pregnancy and the need to undergo a termination,” Brandon provincial court Judge Patrick Sullivan said on Tuesday.

The accused had pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference and two counts of breaching a court order banning him from contacting anyone under 18.

A publication ban prohibits the publication of information that could identify the 14-year-old, who is from a western Manitoba First Nation, and two other minors with whom he communicated.

Manitoba’s police watchdog is investigating after a man was found dead eight days after officers were unable to locate him following a 911 call from Canupawakpa Dakota First Nation in 2024.

The Independent Investigation Unit said the call came in just after midnight on Nov. 22, 2024, with a disturbance audible in the background. GPS coordinates traced it to the First Nation, 305 kilometres west of Winnipeg, prompting Manitoba First Nations Police Service officers to search the area.

Officers could not find the caller, whom they believed to be a local man. Eight days later, on Nov. 30, MFNPS conducted another search and found a man dead.

The death was initially referred to RCMP Major Crime Services as suspicious. The RCMP later returned the case to MFNPS for possible referral to the IIU because of concerns about the eight-day delay in locating the man. MFNPS notified the IIU on Sept. 15, 2026 — nearly two years after the incident.

A Brandon man has been found guilty of killing his 71-year-old mother with a hatchet in the fall of 2023 after his lawyers argued he should be held not criminally responsible.