Family ‘tormented for years’

The father of a man who was tried two times for the slaying of his mother when he was a teenager before a judge ordered a stay of proceedings, is pleading with prosecutors to end their “ongoing torture” of his family and abandon a bid to try the man a third time.

“Since this case began seven years ago, the Crown has relentlessly pursued a conviction at all costs, arguing that my son’s close relationship with his mother was somehow his motive for her murder,” the father wrote in a statement provided to the Free Press.

The father cannot be named as it would identify his son, who was 16 at the time of the March 2019 killing. For the same reason, the 51-year-old victim cannot be identified.

“Our family has been tormented for years… Only with time, after the justice system has run its course, can we begin to heal.”

“Our family has been tormented for years,” the father said, noting “the majority” of the victim’s family attended all of his son’s court appearances and “do not doubt” his innocence.

“Only with time, after the justice system has run its course, can we begin to heal,” he said.

The victim was found bludgeoned to death in her bedroom at her Southdale home, March 26, 2019. Prosecutors argued at a jury trial earlier this year that the woman’s son, the only other person who lived in the house, had exclusive opportunity to kill the woman and left the house for 90 minutes that morning to run errands to provide himself with an alibi.

Defence lawyer James Lockyer said there was no evidence the accused had anything but a loving relationship with his mother and argued the victim was killed by a co-worker she had accused of sexually harassing her.

Court was told the man’s claims as to his whereabouts around the time of the killing were supported by electronic records that showed his arrival and departure from work and a sign-in sheet showing he had dropped his children off at the YMCA.

Jurors heard the victim had been off work for an extended time due to an injury and that the accused, who lived with his mother every second week, did much of the grocery shopping, cooking and house cleaning.

In March, after five weeks of testimony, Court of King’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne ordered a stay of proceedings and ruled a series of actions by prosecutors had denied the 23-year-old man a fair trial.

Champagne’s decision, delivered after two stay applications from the defence made in the absence of the jury, focused primarily on the Crown’s cross examination of the accused, saying it was indicative of a “win at any cost” mentality.

Champagne excoriated prosecutors and described various lines of questioning as “spurious,” “baseless,” “unfounded,” and “highly prejudicial.”

“… He did not kill his mother and should not have to endure this any longer.”

Prosecutors suggested the accused killed his mother to end her pain, or because he feared he would be saddled as her caregiver.

“The Crown takes all the evidence that confirms a strong bond between mother and son and turns it upside down to make unfounded allegations he killed his mother because he did not want to see her suffer any longer,” Champagne said.

Prosecutors filed a notice of appeal last month in which they argued Champagne erred by finding the accused’s Charter rights had been violated and for staying the murder charge.

The victim’s son is in his final year of university “and deserves to live in peace,” his father said.

“We believed Justice Champagne’s decision… had ended this ordeal,” the man said. “His ruling echoed what we have said since the first trial and throughout the second trial… He did not kill his mother and should not have to endure this any longer.”

No court dates have been set for an appeal.

A jury convicted the man of second-degree murder following a trial in June 2022. The man was handed a maximum youth sentence of seven years in custody and community supervision. He was released on bail in February 2023, pending his appeal.

That conviction was overturned two years later and a new trial was ordered after the Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled the sentencing judge made critical errors in her instructions to the jury regarding the issue of fabricated evidence.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca