Victim’s mother rejoices after learning Carman man accused of killing five family members declared fit to stand trial By: Dean Pritchard Posted: 2:57 PM CST Thursday, Mar. 7, 2024 Last Modified: 4:48 PM CST Thursday, Mar. 7, 2024 Updates

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 07/03/2024 (955 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A grieving mother shouted in jubilation after learning a Carman man arrested in the slayings of five family members, including his three young children, has been found fit to stand trial.

“Praise the lord and thank you, Jesus… this is awesome!” Juliette Hastings exclaimed over the phone Thursday afternoon.

Hastings’ daughter, 17-year-old Myah-Lee Gratton, is among the victims alleged to have been killed Feb. 11 by 29-year-old Ryan Manoakeesick.

Late last month, Manoakeesick’s lawyers requested that he undergo an assessment to determine whether he is fit to stand trial and provide instructions to his lawyers.

“We have the results of (the assessment)… finding that he is fit,” Crown attorney Chris Vanderhooft told provincial court Judge Kael McKenzie at a hearing Thursday.

Manoakeesick did not appear in court.

Vanderhhoft and an articling law student appearing on Manoakeesick’s behalf asked that the case be adjourned to June 3.

“By that time we expect counsel will have full disclosure, or very close to it, and in the meantime we will have discussions,” Vanderhooft said.

Manoakeesick is charged with five counts of first-degree murder in the killings of his common-law partner, 30-year-old Amanda Clearwater, their three children — two-month old Isabella, four-year-old Jayven and six-year-old Bethany — and Clearwater’s 17-year-old cousin Myah-Lee Gratton.

All five victims and Manoakeesick lived together in Carman, about 75 kilometres southwest of Winnipeg.

Clearwater’s death was initially reported as a hit-and-run incident at about 7:30 a.m. on Feb. 11. Her body was found in a ditch next to Highway 3, about seven kilometres south of Carman.

The three children were declared dead near a burning vehicle on Provincial Road 248, about 70 kilometres north of Carman, at about 10 a.m. Manoakeesick was arrested near the vehicle, from which RCMP said he had pulled his children before being arrested.

Gratton’s body was found inside the family home.

Prior to her death, Gratton left voicemail messages with her Child and Family Services worker, pleading to be moved out of the home and told friends Manoakeesick was prone to violent outbursts, Hastings said.

“This should never have happened,” Hastings said Thursday. “She could have always come home, and she knew that. It breaks my heart that she didn’t.”

Hastings said she hopes Manoakeesick pleads guilty to the killings.

“He’ll get what’s coming to him, both here on Earth and in the judgment of God.”–Juliette Hastings

“I think he is going to pay the price and he is going to get the max,” she said. “He’ll get what’s coming to him, both here on Earth and in the judgment of God.”

The mandatory sentence for first-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years.

Court records show Manoakeesick has a history of methamphetamine use and mental-health struggles. At the time of the killings he was on bail, facing two charges of impaired driving causing bodily harm.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.