Man acquitted in cousin’s slaying

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This article was published 10/03/2025 (245 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man accused in the shooting death of his cousin has been acquitted of manslaughter, with a judge saying inconsistencies in the evidence leaves doubt to whether he was involved.

Timothy Wilfred Christopher Lecoy-Maple, in his mid-30s, was one of two men charged in the Nov. 24, 2021 shooting death of 40-year-old Angus John Maple.

The other man, Thunder Fontaine, in his mid-20s, was convicted of manslaughter at a 2023 trial. He was given 12 years.

Crown prosecutor Daniel Chaput argued in Lecoy-Maple’s trial last fall that he and Fontaine were “acting in concert” and entered Maple’s apartment with a gun and a plan to rob him.

Maple sold and traded stolen goods for drugs from his Mountain Avenue apartment suite.

Court of King’s Bench Justice Sheldon Lanchbery, who acquitted Lecoy-Maple in a decision issued last month, found inconsistencies in the testimony from a leading witness. The judge also said Chelsea Paul’s action in the suite raised a reasonable doubt about Lecoy-Maple’s involvement, if any, in the killing.

Paul was living with Maple, who was ill with diabetes and cancer, to monitor his blood sugar, administer insulin and ensure he took cancer medication. She was in a relationship with Fontaine, with whom she shares two children.

Lanchbery took pause at the fact Paul turned a surveillance camera down inside the suite before the shooting and afterward removed a doorbell camera from the suite’s exterior. She also took the deceased’s cellphone, which had the only access to video from the doorbell camera.

Neither were ever recovered.

The interior camera still captured audio, including the gunshot at 5:51 p.m., and prior to it being turned over, captured video of Fontaine and Lecoy-Maple entering. Fontaine had a gun.

Paul misidentified Lecoy-Maple as another individual on the video recording.

“Chelsea’s actions to defeat two silent witnesses (cameras) makes her evidence unreliable,” said Lanchbery. “Chelsea’s actions … denied the Crown of key evidence.”

She claimed she followed Fontaine’s instructions in turning down the camera out of fear of him, which Lanchbery didn’t buy.

Maple died from a single gunshot wound to the back of the head, according to an autopsy report.

Chaput had argued at trial that despite the fact it was unknown which of the men pulled the trigger, both should be considered equally responsible.

He said there was enough corroborating evidence to convict Lecoy-Maple, despite inconsistencies in Paul’s evidence. Lanchbery ultimately disagreed.

Fontaine and a different co-accused earlier pleaded guilty to manslaughter in November 2022 in another 2021 killing — the shooting of 35-year-old Anthony Sinclair, a father of six who was riding his bike on Stella Avenue near McGregor Street to pick up a bottle of Pepsi in December that year.

Court heard Alex Genaille, who Fontaine was with, misidentified Sinclair as a man who had mistreated his girlfriend. Genaille pulled out a rifle and shot Sinclair in the back, while Fontaine pulled out a shotgun and fired a shot into Sinclair’s abdomen. Fontaine and Genaille were given 20 years, less time served, in April 2023.

Fontaine will serve both manslaughter bids consecutively, amounting to a 30-year penitentiary sentence.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca