Intellectually disabled man sentenced to prison for stabbing

An intellectually disabled man has been sentenced to 7 ½ years in prison after fatally stabbing another man during a dispute over a stolen purse.

Naustin Beardy, 22, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the Nov. 8, 2024, death of 23-year-old Jamal Eli Preston Miles.

Beardy has an approximate IQ of 59, the result of a brain injury he sustained as a baby after being assaulted by his father, court heard at a sentencing hearing Wednesday. He has also been diagnosed with antisocial personality disorder, polysubstance abuse disorder and has a history of auditory hallucinations and suicide attempts.

“All of these combinations of mental-health concerns present a very complex picture of care for Mr. Beardy,” defence lawyer Kaitlynn Porath told provincial court Judge Cynthia Devine. Beardy’s cognitive challenges “completely colour how his brain functions.”

Beardy has a long history of drug abuse, beginning when he was 13. He has overdosed numerous times, including the day Miles was killed.

“Pretty much all of Mr. Beardy’s episodes of overdosing have been suicide attempts,” Porath said.

A psychiatric report prepared for court said Beardy, who has prior convictions for violence, was not eligible to be found not criminally responsible for the killing, concluding he “was likely experiencing the effects of methamphetamine and opioid withdrawal around the time of the… offences.”

According to an agreed statement of facts provided to court, Miles was at his Alexander Avenue home with several friends, including Beardy and his older sister, when Beardy’s sister accused various people of stealing her purse.

“After unsuccessfully demanding that her purse be returned, she left vowing to return with people to get it back,” Crown attorney Kaley Tschetter said, reading from the agreed statement of facts.

Miles and his girlfriend had just returned from a walk when they saw Beardy’s sister banging on the front door, in the company of Beardy, whom she had given a large hunting knife, and two others.

Beardy’s sister and a teen female “ended up in a physical altercation” with Miles’ girlfriend, at which point Miles attempted to intervene and Beardy stabbed him once in the chest.

Miles was rushed to hospital in critical condition and pronounced dead 20 minutes later.

Beardy fled the area and was chased by two males who struck him in the head with a machete; the assault ended when another male intervened.

Beardy discarded the knife and called a support worker to take him to Health Sciences Centre, where he later assaulted several security staff. Beardy was charged with assault and was being held at the Winnipeg Remand Centre when police arrested him for the stabbing on Nov. 13.

Beardy confessed to the stabbing and told police where they could find the knife.

“He was clear that he did not plan on killing the victim at all that day, and that things just happened very quickly after his sister… started accusing people of stealing her purse,” Tschetter said.

Miles was killed just as he was starting to make positive changes to his life and was looking forward to getting married, said his former foster mother.

“I hope you take the opportunity you have while incarcerated to educate yourself and deal with the trauma from your life experiences… and break this cycle, as Jamal will never have the opportunity,” the woman told Beardy in a victim impact statement.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca