News briefs for Monday, January 2, 2023

RCMP have laid charges against two men accused in a homicide in Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation last week.

Wasagaming RCMP were called to a home on the First Nation about 43 kilometres southwest of Riding Mountain National Park at 12:05 a.m. on Dec. 30, where they found a 54-year-old man dead.

Major crimes investigators have since learned a 24-year-old woman was also hurt in the incident. She was taken to hospital and treated.

Trevor Wyatt Gabriel Bone, 29, and Dakota Daniel William Bone, 21, both from the First Nation, have each been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated assault. They remain in custody.

The Winnipeg Jets have waived forward Jansen Harkins.

Harkins, 25, had three goals and five points through 22 games in a bottom-six role this season.

The Jets’ 2015 second-round pick notably started the year in the American Hockey League with the Manitoba Moose, where he quickly caught fire, tallying nine points in the first six games before being recalled.

Harkins will have to clear waivers before returning to the Moose.

 

A woman has been arrested after multiple fires were set at a downtown apartment complex on New Year’s Day.

Winnipeg police officers, who were responding to an unrelated incident at the complex on the 400 block of Kennedy Street, saw a garbage bin on fire at the back of the building at about 11:15 p.m. and called for fire crews.

The officers were told “several fires” had been set in different parts of the building, police said, then searched the area for a suspect. On the 500 block of Balmoral Street, officers arrested a woman and seized a knife, fire extinguisher and “materials used to start a fire,” police said. Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service crews extinguished each of the blazes and no one was reported hurt.

A 28-year-old from Winnipeg will be charged with two counts of arson causing damage to property and one count each of possession of incendiary material and possession of a weapon. She was released on an undertaking.

An Alberta lawyer who admitted to hiring a private investigator to tail a Manitoba chief judge has been charged with attempting to obstruct justice and intimidation of a justice system participant.

John Carpay, 55, turned himself in to Calgary police on a Canada-wide warrant and was charged, the Winnipeg Police Service confirmed Monday.

The police service hasn’t said when the warrant for Carpay’s arrest was issued. The police investigation began in July 2021 and is still ongoing.

Carpay, who founded the Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms, apologized to Court of King’s Bench Justice Glenn Joyal in July 2021 after the judge discovered he was being followed.

The Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms was involved in a constitutional challenge in Manitoba court on behalf of seven churches that were protesting COVID-19 public-health restrictions. Joyal was presiding over the high-profile case. Carpay admitted he hired private investigators to track Joyal and unnamed senior Manitoba politicians to see if they were complying with the public-health orders.

 

A 27-year-old woman needed emergency surgery after she was stabbed in the upper body on New Year’s Eve, Winnipeg police say.

Officers were called to a home on the 500 block of Maryland Street just after 5 p.m. for a reported stabbing, where they found the victim and gave her medical care, police said. She was taken to hospital in critical condition, where she was operated on.

Police found a suspect, who assaulted an officer, and arrested her. The officer wasn’t hurt. Investigators believe the suspect, who was acquaintances with the victim, had gone to the 27-year-old’s house and got into an argument that led to the stabbing.

A 23-year-old woman, whose named hasn’t been released, is charged with aggravated assault, assault a peace officer, carrying a concealed weapon and fail to comply with the condition of an undertaking. She was detained.

A Winnipeg man is accused of brandishing a handgun at a New Year’s Eve party in Whyte Ridge.

Winnipeg police were called to a home on the first 100 block of Copperwood Court at about 3:15 a.m. on Jan. 1 for a report of a man armed with a gun. Officers, along with the dog unit, arrested a suspect outside and seized eight firearms from the residence, police said.

Major crimes investigators believe the suspect, who owns the home, got into an argument with a 19-year-old woman and a 23-year-old man who were there celebrating New Year’s Eve. Police allege the suspect told the pair to leave and brandished the pistol, racking its slide in front of them. They left and called police.

A 48-year-old man will be charged with careless use of a firearm and three counts of store a firearm contrary to regulations, police said. He has been released on an undertaking.