Mountie shooter gets life after jail assault

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This article was published 03/02/2020 (2102 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

BRANDON — A man who tried to kill a fellow inmate only a week after receiving an 18-year sentence for shooting an RCMP officer has been sentenced to life in prison.

“I can come to no conclusion but that Mr. Racette-Beaulieu is a troubled and dangerous individual. He has shown himself repeatedly to be capable of serious violence and homicidal intent,” Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said in her decision Monday.

“When someone like Mr. Racette-Beaulieu shows us he is dangerous, and tells us in his own words he is dangerous, we should believe him.”

Therae Racette-Beaulieu, 21, pleaded guilty in Brandon provincial court last year to attempted murder.

Police were called to Brandon Correctional Centre on April 29, the court heard, after an inmate had been stabbed with a homemade knife numerous times by his cellmate.

The two men had recently become cellmates and had been getting along fine until another inmate with gang affiliations told Racette-Beaulieu the victim was “a rat.”

In the common area of the jail, Racette-Beaulieu checked if guards were around before grabbing the victim and stabbing him repeatedly in the back, shoulders and upper chest. After approximately 20 strikes, the shank snapped in two; Racette-Beaulieu continued punching the inmate.

Part of the weapon, which was a four-inch piece of aluminum made from a sharpened mop handle, was found in the toilet. Racette-Beaulieu later admitted to trying to flush it.

In his statement to police, Racette-Beaulieu said he intended to kill the victim but he “failed again” — referring to his previous attempted murder conviction for shooting Manitoba RCMP Cpl. Graeme Kingdon in the head on Aug. 29, 2018, near Onanole.

It was only a week prior to the jailhouse attack that Racette-Beaulieu was sentenced to 18 years in prison for the crime spree that ended in Kingdon being shot.

Referencing a pre-sentence report, Hewitt-Michta noted Racette-Beaulieu experienced chaos and trauma growing up, including physical and sexual abuse, as well as witnessing domestic assault and substance abuse.

“This is a tragic and complex case that illustrates the substantial negative impact of exposure to trauma in childhood, and how these experiences can contribute to a life trajectory in which that damage and distress is acted out in destructive ways that can cause horrific harm to others,” Hewitt-Michta read from a psychological assessment.

Hewitt-Michta gave him credit for his admissions and his guilty plea, which spared the justice system and taxpayers the cost of a preliminary hearing and a trial. However, the aggravating factors present before the court were glaring, the judge said.

“The attack was vicious and deliberate, motivated by the belief that (the victim) is someone who provided information to the authorities, implicating another,” Hewitt-Michta said.

Hewitt-Michta sentenced Racette-Beaulieu to life in prison, concurrent to the 18-year sentence he is serving for the attempted murder of Kingdon.

“Mr. Racette-Beaulieu is still very young, his rehabilitative prospects are unclear and may improve. If they do not, a life sentence best provides for the long-term supervision of Mr. Racette-Beaulieu and the long-term protection of the public,” Hewitt-Michta said.

— Brandon Sun