Lamb’s murder charge in slaying of Tanya Nepinak stayed

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This article was published 22/11/2013 (4346 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The case against killer Shawn Lamb for the murder of Tanya Jane Nepinak has ended, pending the discovery of further evidence.

In a 38-second proceeding held Thursday that was not advertised on the public court docket, the Crown stayed the murder charge Lamb faced in connection to Nepinak’s death.

Lamb did not appear.

Neither did Lamb’s defence lawyer Martin Glazer, who was made aware of what was taking place, prosecutor Sheila Leinburd told provincial court Judge Lynn Stannard.

There wasn’t enough evidence to convict Lamb in Nepinak’s case, Stannard was told.

“In terms of the murder charge, based on the evidence to date and a careful reassessment of all of the evidence, the Crown has determined that there is no reasonable likelihood of conviction at this time,” said Leinburd.

“Consequently the Crown will be entering a stay of proceedings. Should new evidence be discovered, the case can be reviewed for possible future prosecution,” she said.

The move to stay the Nepinak case comes a week after Lamb, 54, was handed 20 years in prison for manslaughter for the drug-fuelled killings of Carolyn Sinclair and Lorna Blacksmith.

The day after that hearing, the Crown stayed two seperate sexual assault cases and some probation breach charges Lamb faced on what’s known as the “office docket,” which means the stay isn’t formally spoken to on the court record.

Family shocked

Lamb’s charges were due to appear this coming Monday in an administrative court. No reason was offered to Stannard about why the Nepinak case was quietly brought forward to yesterday morning.

Nepinak’s family was consulted about what was happening, Leinburd said.

“The family has been met with on several occasions and has been advised as to today’s proceedings.”

But Nepinak’s aunt Sue Caribou, who has been acting as spokeswoman for the family, said they were shocked by today’s events.

The family was preparing to appear together at the Law Courts Monday for the administrative court process, she said, until she was contacted by a Free Press reporter.

“We had no clue,” Caribou said, “No clue this was going on. Everyone was looking forward to the hearing on Monday,” Caribou said from her home Friday.

Caribou questioned an assertion by the Crown that the family had been informed of the stay and the half-minute hearing Friday.  Caribou said no one called her or Tanya’s mother, Joyce Nepinak, who is Caribou’s sister.

“I don’t know who… I wish she’d say who she’s talking about,” Caribou said, sounding dazed.

A shy woman, Joyce Nepinak rarely attends the feasts and other community events in Tanya’s honour, although she did go to a series of events, including a round dance at the Law Courts and a vigil at the legislature, after Lamb’s plea bargain and sentence last week.

“My sister will be devastated,” Caribou said Friday, breaking into tears.

“I have to get over to my sister’s,” she said.” I’m just shocked… They’re treating her like she was nobody.”

Police believe Nepinak died in 2011

The case against Lamb revolved entirely around statements he made to police after being arrested in June 2012 for a sexual assault investigation, charges in which have now been dropped. He was initially charged with three counts of second-degree murder for the deaths of Nepinak, Sinclair and Blacksmith. All three women had been reported missing by their families.

However a limited amount of forensic evidence and what the Crown said was the potential for “likely exclusion” of Lamb’s statements at any murder trial led to a deal where he admitted to manslaughter for the killings of Sinclair, 25, on Dec. 18, 2011, and Blacksmith, 18, on Jan. 11, 2012 inside Lamb’s apartment on Notre Dame Avenue.

Lamb dumped the women’s bodies after wrapping them in plastic. Sinclair wasn’t found until March 31, 2012 near a garbage can not far from Lamb’s apartment. It was Lamb who led police to the remains of Blacksmith behind a home on Simcoe Street.

Police alleged Nepinak, 31, was killed on Sept. 13, 2011 — the same date she was reported missing. However, unlike Sinclair and Blacksmith her body was never recovered.

Police suspected she had been placed in a refuse container which was then dumped at the Brady Road Landfill. However a police search of a section of the dump in fall 2012 turned up nothing.

 

james.turner@freepress.mb.ca