Three sentenced in ‘gruesome’ 2021 beating death after pleading guilty to manslaughter

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This article was published 07/06/2023 (900 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Shelly Kirkness told police who knocked on her door that she hadn’t seen Trevor Dorion for several weeks, but her boyfriend’s beaten body was decomposing in the basement of the Burrows Avenue home.

Officers returned just hours later, after receiving a tip Kirkness had asked a visitor that same day if she “wanted to see a body,” a court heard Tuesday.

Kirkness, 36, and two co-accused, Cary Phoenix Atkinson and Season Jade Lavallee, both 28, were set to stand trial for first-degree murder next fall, but in a plea bargain with prosecutors agreed to admit to manslaughter and were sentenced to 12 years, 14 years and eight years in prison, respectively.

“The level of violence exhibited upon Mr. Dorion at the time of his death was horrific and inexcusable,” Crown attorney Michelle Bright told Court of King’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey.

“The circumstances in which he was left were particularly gruesome (and) are demonstrative of a troubling level of callousness that concerns the Crown and should concern the court.”

Family members sobbed loudly and comforted each other as Bright, reading from an agreed statement of facts, described the circumstances of Dorion’s death.

Court heard Atkinson and Lavallee, who are cousins, had awakened from sleep at Kirkness’s home May 8, 2021, when Kirkness claimed Dorion had been hitting her and her young son, who was not present at the time.

“She told them that she wanted Dorion dealt with,” Bright said.

Kirkness, Atkinson and another unidentified man forced Dorion into the basement and bound his hands with duct tape and taped his mouth shut. Lavallee joined the group and struck Dorion in the head with a wooden two by four. Kirkness kicked, stomped and punched Dorion and with direction from Lavallee, started choking him.

“(Lavallee) held Dorion down by the chest while Kirkness choked him while kneeling on him and Atkinson held Dorion’s legs,” Bright said.

Dorion had freed his hands and was attempting to fight back when Atkinson stabbed him in the torso with a “machete-style” knife.

Kirkness and Lavallee later told police they all believed Dorion was still alive when they returned upstairs. Atkinson returned to the basement sometime later to find Dorion was dead.

Lavallee washed up and gave her clothes to Atkinson to take away and burn, Bright said. Atkinson left with the clothes and returned with several rolls of cling wrap. The next day, Kirkness purchased cleaning supplies and bleach.

“Mr. Dorion’s body was covered in bleach, he was wrapped in various ropes and cords and two shower curtains,” Bright said. Dorion’s head was covered with a plastic bag and his body covered with layers of cling wrap.

Court head Kirkness thought Atkinson and Lavallee would help her dispose of Dorion’s body, but they left the house and did not return.

Dorion’s mother filed a missing person report with Winnipeg police on May 12.

On May 20, police officers visited Kirkness’s home and were told she had not seen him for weeks. That same day, police received a tip from a social worker who said a client and a friend had visited Kirkness’s home earlier in the day when Kirkness “asked them if they wanted to see a body,” Bright said.

“One of the women followed her into the basement,” Bright said. “Kirkness asked one of the women to help her move the body out of the basement and she refused.”

Police returned to the house, and Kirkness admitted Dorion’s body was in the basement. When taken into custody, she denied any involvement in the killing, blaming it on her two co-accused.

Atkinson and Lavallee were arrested 10 days later after police pulled over the taxi they were riding in.

Court heard the Crown’s case for murder was weakened by an autopsy report that could not determine the precise cause of Dorion’s death. According to a pathologist, no single injury was lethal enough to kill him. As well, Dorion had meth in his system, which could not be ruled out as a cause of death, the pathologist said.

“Regardless of any drug use around the time of his death, regardless whether there was any truth to Ms. Kirkness’s allegations prior to his death, no one deserves to die the way that he did,” Bright said.

Court heard all three offenders suffered from drug addictions and had troubled family histories.

“The meth-addiction issues in this city are really a scourge… and continues to create serious issues in our society,” Bright said.

Dorion “lived his life in the fast lane” and his death has “broken our hearts completely,” family members told court in victim impact statements provided to court.

“I have so much anger and hate for you,” sister Crystal Dorion wrote. “I know my brother would want me to forgive, but not now, maybe not ever.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca