Fatal Swan River stabbing nets eight-year sentence

A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter after he stabbed an acquaintance while walking down the street and then took the victim to hospital, where he died.

Dean Richard Bell was walking down Swan River’s Main Street with his half-brother on the evening of Jan. 13, 2024, when he spotted 33-year-old Calvin Chartrand and his girlfriend.

At a house party days earlier, Bell was kicked out in a confrontation — and, Bell later told RCMP, he accused Chartrand of threatening him and taking his cell phone at the gathering.

Unprovoked, but likely motivated by opportunity and the conflict at the party, the brothers walked over and began a verbal altercation, said provincial court Associate Chief Judge Geoffrey Bayly in a sentencing decision earlier this month.

Bell demanded the return of his phone, then pulled out a knife and stabbed Chartrand in the face, leading his half-brother, Tyrone Guiboche, to tell Bell it was enough.

“However, the attack did not end, and moments later, Tyrone Guiboche joined in by physically attacking the victim,” said Bayly. “The offender, with his brother assisting, stabbed Chartrand a second time, this time in the buttock, inflicting a fatal wound.”

Bell and Guiboche, who’s in his early 40s, stopped attacking and decided to help Chartrand to the local hospital, where he died of internal bleeding from the stab wound to his buttock, which had severed an artery, said Bayly.

RCMP arrested the brothers days later for the attack that was caught on area surveillance cameras and seen by eyewitnesses.

Bell admitted he stabbed Chartrand, but told officers it was self defence over Chartrand’s alleged prior threats and the theft of his phone.

Bell, who’s now 31, later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Bayly, who said “Chartrand lost his life needlessly due to the accused’s actions,” found that Bell should be sentenced to eight years.

But, the judge ruled that sentence should be reduced by a year because of Bell’s Gladue factors — systemic and background considerations courts must take into account when sentencing Indigenous people, such as Bell — and the fact Bell assisted Chartrand in getting medical treatment.

“The offender’s history of victimization, trauma, and cultural disenfranchisement is intricately linked to our country’s shameful legacy of colonialism and attempts at cultural genocide,” said Bayly.

Bell’s mother is from Duck Bay, but he was mostly raised by his dad in Birch River. The father and son had a strained relationship, in large part because of Bell’s lifestyle choices and substance abuse problems.

He began drinking at 18 and started cocaine and methamphetamine around 26.

“This seven-year term reflects the serious nature of the offence, underscores the need to denounce violent conduct within the community, and emphasizes the importance of both specific and general deterrence, while also considering the offender’s personal history,” wrote Bayly.

Guiboche, who was also charged with manslaughter, has not yet been tried. His next court date is in November.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca