Crown to seek life for teen accused in bridge killing

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This article was published 14/10/2022 (1109 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg teen arrested in the stabbing death of a 31-year-old Winnipeg man last spring will face a possible life sentence if convicted, court heard Friday.

Richard Dominic Anthony Contois died May 6 following a confrontation near the Slaw Rebchuk Bridge.

A man, now 18, has been charged with second-degree murder.

“The Crown did want to give notice on the record that we will be seeking upon conviction an adult sentence” for the killing and a pair of unrelated assaults three months earlier, Crown attorney Trinda de Monye told provincial court Judge Sandy Chapman during a brief appearance by the accused at the Manitoba Youth Centre.

The accused was a youth at the time of the killing. Under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, youths are considered to be of “diminished moral blameworthiness,” compared to adults. To persuade a court to impose an adult sentence, prosecutors must successfully “rebut” that presumption and satisfy a judge that a youth sentence is of insufficient length to hold an offender accountable.

The maximum sentence for a youth convicted of second-degree murder is seven years, at least three years of which is served in the community. If sentenced as an adult, an offender would serve life in prison with no chance of parole for at least seven years.

“I spoke with (the accused) on Monday and we had a long discussion about what that means for him in the event he is found guilty of either of these charges,” defence lawyer David Barbour told Chapman.

Court records show the accused is facing more than a dozen charges for alleged crimes during the three months prior to Contois’ killing, including weapons offences, assaults and breaches of court orders.

Police arrested the accused on May 17. But for one court appearance a week earlier on a charge of not complying with a reporting condition, available court records do not suggest he was arrested for any of the remaining offences prior to May 17.

His next court date is Dec. 9.

A second suspect in the killing, 19-year-old Joseph Bruce Evans, was arrested in Norway House June 3. His next court date is Nov. 4.

RCMP treat Thompson death as homicide

Manitoba First Nations leaders are calling for justice after an Indigenous mother of three was killed in Thompson this week.

Geraldine Miranda Chubb, 33, a member of Bunibonibee Cree Nation, was found dead in an apartment in the northern city just after 8 a.m. on Oct. 12.

A 25-year-old man was arrested at the scene. Chubb’s death is being treated as a homicide, RCMP said.

“Our women and girls are being taken from us at alarming rates and we must put a stop to the violence,” Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief Garrison Settee said Friday. “We cannot continue losing any more women. They are our life-givers and must be treated with respect and dignity.

“We cannot allow this crisis to become a normal occurrence — the violence needs to end.”

Settee said he is “extremely saddened” by the death of another Indigenous woman in Manitoba. In Winnipeg, seven Indigenous women have been killed this year.

Heidi Spence, director of MKO’s missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls liaison unit, said the community needs healing. “I challenge everyone to take the courage to speak out against all and any form of violence… We all have a right to feel safe, a right to security, and a right to live without worry.”

Anyone who needs support can reach out to the unit at 1-800-442-0488 or at 204-677-1648.

RCMP continue to investigate Chubb’s death.