Co-accused in recent homicides has past robbery, theft convictions

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This article was published 15/02/2023 (1030 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

One of the Winnipeg men arrested in a linked pair of recent slayings in the inner city was drawn back into crime following his mother’s 2019 cancer death, court has heard.

Winnipeg police announced Tuesday three additional men had been arrested in the two homicides, bringing the total number of accused to six.

All six are charged in the Jan. 29 slaying of Carl George Wescoupe, 40; five of them are accused of involvement in the Feb. 1 killing of Lee James Boulette, 40.

Homicide detectives believe the deaths are linked, but police have not revealed a possible motive nor said how the men were killed.

Wescoupe was found dead inside a suite at the Manwin Hotel on Main Street. His body was discovered after a man in his 30s showed up at a city hospital with a serious injuries.

Officers found Boulette inside an apartment on the 100 block of Selkirk Avenue, after a stabbing victim sought help at a hotel on the 800 block of Main Street.

Jordan Elvin McFadyen, 27, and Rory Shane Nash, 39, have each been charged with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault for alleged involvement in both incidents, police said Tuesday.

McFadyen will next appear in court March 10, while Nash appears Feb. 24.

First-degree murder charges are laid in killings believed to be planned and deliberate.

Police laid manslaughter and aggravated assault charges against Eyan Douglas Ballantyne, 33, in the Manwin Hotel incident. He’s next due in court March 10.

At a July 2021 provincial court hearing, Nash pleaded guilty to violating multiple court orders, as well as drug possession and two counts of possessing property obtained by crime, specifically a motorcycle and a Toyota Corolla sedan he had stolen in two separate incidents.

Court heard he had gotten involved with the criminal justice system as a young man after falling in with a group of negative peers, despite what he described as a good childhood with a hard-working single mother.

He was convicted of robbery in 2012 and 2013, when he was also given a 10-year weapons prohibition, court records show.

His defence lawyer said Nash worked hard in various industries and was rarely unemployed, but his mother died suddenly of cancer, which led to him getting reinvolved with the criminal justice system.

Judge Heather Pullan sentenced Nash to 150 days in jail, along with a year-long driving ban.

Ballantyne’s criminal record is lighter, largely consisting of administrative breaches, records show.

In July 2018, he was pleaded guilty in provincial court to uttering threats in an August 2017 incident involving a girlfriend.

Court heard he and his partner had been drinking at her Jarvis Avenue apartment when they began to argue, which escalated into a confrontation in which he threatened to kill her and himself.

Judge Mary Kate Harvie granted Ballantyne a suspended sentence and ordered him not to contact the victim if he had been drinking or consuming drugs.

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He was also given a year of supervised probation, which required him to go for an addictions assessment and complete any programming as dictated by his probation officer.

Homicide detectives previously arrested Kurtis Joseph Dilallo, 39, Robert Shawn Murdock, 31, and Ernest John Young, 54 and charged each of them with two counts of first-degree murder and two counts of aggravated assault.

Court records show Dilallo, Murdock and Young have prior convictions for assault. Dilallo and Murdock have additional convictions for drug offences and uttering threats.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @erik_pindera

Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020.  Read more about Erik.

Every piece of reporting Erik 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.