Accused in woman’s slaying has criminal record

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This article was published 24/05/2024 (799 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man accused of fatally stabbing a woman in Winnipeg May 17 once punched the mother of his son and sprayed her with bear repellent after she scolded him over child care.

Winnipeg Police Service officers found the woman suffering from a stab wound when they were called to a Sargent Avenue residence, between Spence and Edmonton streets, at about 7:45 p.m.

She was pronounced dead in hospital. Dustin Cody Swampy, 29, was arrested at the apartment.

Homicide detectives identified the victim as Rachel Muswagon, a 37-year-old originally from Norway House Cree Nation.

In 2020, Swampy pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon and one count of failure to comply with the condition of a recognizance over offences committed in 2018 and 2019, court records show.

In November 2018, Swampy punched and sprayed bear repellent on his girlfriend at the time, who was the mother of their infant child, after the child began to cry.

The victim made a remark that Swampy never cared for the child and he became enraged, said Crown prosecutor Erin Dunsmore at his provincial court sentencing hearing in February 2020.

“(The victim) went into her child’s room and the offender pushed her onto the bed and punched her with a closed fist, causing swelling to her eye,” said Dunsmore at the time.

She yelled at him to leave, so he gathered his belongings at the door, but as she continued to demand he get out, he pulled out the bear spray and squirted it into her face, while their child and the victim’s two other children were present, Dunsmore said.

He was arrested on a warrant in January 2019.

The victim in the assault had the same surname as the homicide victim, but whether the two victims are related is unclear.

Winnipeg police Const. Claude Chancy said Friday he could not say whether there was any familial connection between the two victims.

Police have acknowledged Swampy knew the woman he’s accused of killing.

Chancy said he could not reveal details about the killing or whether the apartment belonged to Muswagon or Swampy.

After Swampy was released on a recognizance on the previous assault charge, he was picked up by police late one night in September 2019, after a pedestrian told officers a man fitting his description had been following him.

Police searched him and found a large knife in his pocket, which he was prohibited from possessing as part of his recognizance order. Swampy was again arrested.

He was given 18 months of supervised probation on a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence.

His lawyer, Zach Kinahan, told provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson that Swampy grew up in a home rife with alcohol abuse, with parents from Long Plain First Nation and Sagkeeng First Nation, whose parents had attended residential school.

“He seems to have some of the legacies of residential schools himself, particularly growing up in a home that was so affected by it (and) appears to still deal with it,” Kinahan told court.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca