Guilty plea in spouse’s death from alcohol poisoning

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This article was published 27/09/2016 (3468 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man who claimed his spouse “drank herself to death” inside their West Broadway apartment two years ago has now admitted he bound her wrists and ankles and stayed up playing video games while she was dying of alcohol poisoning.

Shane Darryl Quon pleaded guilty Monday to criminal negligence causing the death of his 23-year-old common-law wife, Roseanne Lee Eaglestick, in March 2014. Other charges against him, including manslaughter, forcible confinement and sexual assault, were stayed. Both the Crown and defence lawyers are expected to agree on a recommended sentence before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Herbert Rempel in December. A conviction on criminal negligence causing death carries a maximum life sentence.

Quon, who was 43 at the time, had previously denied responsibility for Eaglestick’s death in statements to police and in a 2014 interview with the Free Press.

His guilty plea means new details have now emerged about what happened that night.

Eaglestick, who struggled with alcoholism and was a sex worker, had returned to the couple’s apartment the evening of March 16, 2014, after having been away for a week. They had a “volatile” six-year relationship — during which police were called to the home several times — and it wasn’t unusual for Eaglestick to leave for a few days, but it made Quon angry, court heard.

She drank a few beers and most of a 40-ounce bottle of vodka before Quon bound her with zip ties. They had what he called “make-up sex” while she was nearly unconscious, court heard, and Eaglestick was left badly bruised, with ligature marks around her neck and wrists.

After she passed out, Quon kept her ankles tied and drew on her body, writing the word “slut” across her forehead. He laid her on the floor beside the bed, upon which he sat playing video games until 2 a.m. while she vomited.

He tried once to wake her up, but didn’t realize she was dead until shortly before 8 a.m., after he smoked a cigarette and then decided to wash the derogatory term off her face. By that time, Eaglestick had been dead for at least two hours, according to a pathologist who later arrived on scene. Her blood alcohol level was 0.578.

“If Eaglestick had received medical treatment up to the moment of her death, she would not have died,” Crown attorney Jennifer Mann told court Monday.

While pleading guilty, Quon told the judge he’ll have something to say during his sentencing hearing later this year.

In a July 2014 interview with the Free Press, Quon said everything that happened between he and Eaglestick was consensual, and the criminal charges against him were only going to “drag her memory through the mud.”

— with files from Mike McIntyre

katie.may@freepress.mb.caTwitter: @thatkatiemay