More civilian oversight is coming to Regina’s Board of Police Commissioners.

The board will grow to four from two civilian members, at least one of whom must be Indigenous

For Coun. Joel Murray (Ward 6) seeing two additional civilian members on the board is a welcome change.

“It’s really refreshing for members of the board,” he said. “It’s really helpful.”

The board currently consists of Murray, Mayor Michael Fougere, Coun. Barbara Young (Ward 1) and commissioners Jada Yee and Vic Pankratz.

Having served for the entirety of his term on council, Murray said civilian members often have perspectives or concerns that councillors and the mayor may not bring to the table.

For example Yee, an Indigenous-Asian member of the board, put forward a motion during a June meeting seeking civilian-only oversight following serious police-involved incidents.

“For any successful board you have to have diversity if you want it to be effective,” said Murray.

During a council meeting Wednesday when the vote was passed, Coun. Andrew Stevens (Ward 3) proposed three amendments which were all defeated. He tried to amend the bylaw to mandate at least two Indigenous members on the board, as the current bylaw already states one commissioner be Indigenous.

“We’re going to need more than one Indigenous representative. Representation matters and being the only person in a larger group identified as Indigenous is troublesome,” said Stevens. The amendment failed 8-3.

When that motion failed Stevens attempted a second amendment which would mandate at least one member of the board be of a visible minority group. That motion was also defeated, but by a vote of 6-5.

“I don’t think we need to be that descriptive,” said Fougere during the meeting. The mayor added that there has been interest expressed by members of the Black Lives Matter organization in Regina to sit on the board.

“We want to make sure that we give voice to those who feel they don’t have a voice,” added Fougere on Thursday.

He said the wording of the recommendation is that “at least one” member of the board be Indigenous, keeping the door open for additional Indigenous members. “We want to keep this as open ended as possible.”

Coun. Bob Hawkins (Ward 2) mentioned that should council become too precise in its language around inclusivity, they could potentially prevent members of other marginalized groups from sitting on the board.

“If we are being too descriptive they might not be included. I’m thinking of the LGBTQ community and I don’t want to exclude people,” said Hawkins.

In comparison to other police boards in Saskatchewan, Regina lagged behind. Saskatoon and Prince Albert have already expanded their board to include four citizen members.

“This is good news,” said Fougere, adding the city is following the current trend in Canada. “We want to have a police board that reflects the people the police service protects everyday.”

— with file from Heather Polischuk

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Regina police are searching for a man who allegedly stabbed an employee in the hand during a robbery at a local business on Friday.

According to a Regina Police Service (RPS) news release, police responded to a business on the 2100 block of Albert Street at approximately 3:08 a.m. Police received information that a man had robbed the business and stabbed an employee in the hand with a knife. Police said the employee was taken to hospital by EMS.

Police checked the immediate area, but the man was not found. A K9 team was also unable to track the man.

Police believe the man exited the business through the back door, taking merchandise and an undisclosed amount of cash. He is described approximately six feet tall with a large build, wearing an Air Jordan baseball cap, a black hoodie with the word “hustle” on the front, a red undershirt, blue sweatpants and black shoes.

Police also provided a security image of the man.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact the RPS at at 306-777-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

A witness whose evidence was central to the trial of three men ultimately convicted in a brutal murder now says a prosecutor and the police told him what to say — a claim heavily called into question by the Crown.

The witness — who can’t be named because he was 16 at the time of the August 2014 beating death of Shawn Douglas — was originally charged with first-degree murder alongside several others, including Johnathon Peepeetch, Dennis Thompson and Joshua Wilson. But in September 2017, shortly after the three men were found guilty, the Crown stayed charges against the youth and a second accused who also testified.

It isn’t uncommon for the Crown to stay or downgrade charges in cases when an accused testifies against others. Following the stays, a Saskatchewan Justice spokesman explained the Crown takes a variety of factors into account, such as “the accused’s forthrightness and assistance with the investigation, the significance of the testimony when seen after the fact, the degree of involvement the accused played in the crime, the specific circumstances of the crime, as well as the accused’s personal history and situation.”

But in a letter and affidavit filed earlier this year, the witness alleged police investigators and a prosecutor tampered with his evidence by providing him with information from other witnesses and telling him to say things a certain way, both in police statements and on the stand.

The witness claims he was told he’d face “25 to life” if he didn’t co-operate (not a possibility for a youth, even sentenced as an adult) and that he was made to go along with inaccurate witness statements. If he co-operated, he said he was promised his charges would be dropped.

“The police would prepare me for my recorded statements indicating prior ‘this is what we’re going to ask you, what will your answer be?’ If they were not happy with my answer, they would ask me to amend it,” reads the witness’s affidavit.

The witness further alleged police filled him in on what other witnesses had said on the stand and told him what he needed to say.

The matter came before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on Thursday, when senior Crown prosecutor Dean Sinclair cross-examined the witness on his claims. Lawyers for Peepeetch, Thompson and Wilson — who are appealing their convictions — will decide on a later date whether to question the witness themselves.

The witness’s affidavit is being presented as a fresh-evidence application at the appeal.

On Thursday, the witness repeated his allegations against police but added one of the Crown prosecutors on the file was also involved in feeding him information and telling him how to testify.

Sinclair spent the day questioning the witness on his affidavit and breaking down his 2017 testimony piece by piece.

The witness acknowledged he told the truth in police statements and at trial about numerous facts relevant to the murder. He maintained he’d been honest that Peepeetch, Thompson and Wilson were all involved in taking Douglas from a Toronto Street house to a location out of town where the pipefitter was bound and then beaten to death with his own tools. He said he’d been honest about Peepeetch uttering a prayer and telling Douglas to pray before swinging a sledgehammer at his head. And he said he told the truth about how each of the other males present in the bush — including himself — took a turn hitting Douglas.

The witness told Sinclair, “I was telling the truth about all that stuff that happened.”

“Where are the lies?” Sinclair asked.

The witness replied there were things he was told not to say, particularly regarding hearsay allegations about Douglas. The witness further claimed there was no gang involvement but that he was urged to say there was.

But under questioning by Sinclair, the witness waffled on the gang point, going back and forth between saying he and the convicted men were gang members and then stating they weren’t.

Sinclair pointed out the inconsistencies and reiterated what came out about the case at trial.

“This was a file about gang involvement and everybody knew it,” he said. “Everybody’s always known it.”

Sinclair added it’s normal procedure for trial counsel to speak to witnesses prior to testifying to help prepare them.

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An 18-year-old man is facing charges after he allegedly sprayed someone with bear spray at Regina’s Cornwall Centre on Tuesday.

According to a Regina Police Service (RPS) news release, police responded to the downtown mall at approximately 12:15 p.m. When they arrived, the suspect had fled on foot from the north doors of the mall and headed west on Saskatchewan Drive.

Police said a number of people at the mall were affected by the bear spray, but no one required medical attention from EMS. During the investigation, police gathered security footage and witness statements.

The RPS believes the bear spray was intentionally directed at another man. Police have not identified the victim, who left the mall after being sprayed.

Police later located a suspect walking on the 1900 block of Halifax Street. He was arrested and charged without incident on St. John Street.

The man has been charged with assault with a weapon and carrying a concealed weapon.

Regina police have charged a fifth person with attempted murder in connection with an August shooting that sent one person to hospital.

On Sept. 30, Regina police officers, including those with the gang unit, arrested a 24-year-old man and charged him with attempted murder, as well as numerous firearms charges.

The man was the subject of a warrant, and has been charged in connection with a shooting that happened on the 3400 block of Dewdney Avenue on Aug. 3.

This is the fifth man who has been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting. Another 18-year-old man is also facing weapons and drug charges, and the victim in the shooting has also been charged.

The incident began when police were sent to the North Central area at 9:48 a.m. for a report of a shooting. Upon arriving, police found a man who had been shot. He was transported to hospital by EMS.

The investigation led police to the 1400 block of Elphinstone Street, where police seized guns and ammunition.

Four other men ages 33, 27, 20 and 28 have also been charged with attempted murder in connection with the shooting.

The victim in the shooting was charged with possession of a weapon, assault with a weapon, failure to comply with probation order and failure to comply with undertaking.

A 23-year-old man implicated in a shooting last year said he wants to take responsibility for the crime — even though the victim has been unco-operative with the court process.

“His words to me were that he wanted to pay his dues to society, and so he wanted to get the matter resolved and behind him,” said Nicholas Stooshinoff, defence lawyer for Sharmarke Dahir Ali. “He says he’s sick of what he did and he’s sick of getting involved with drugs.”

Ali was originally facing an attempted murder charge in connection with the May 9, 2019 incident. Court heard a lack of co-operation from witnesses — including the seriously injured victim — played a significant role in the Crown and defence reaching a deal, with Ali pleading guilty to the lesser charge of discharging a firearm with intent to wound or endanger the life of the shooting victim.

The Crown also agreed to a sentence barely above the four-year minimum, the two sides asking Regina Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Lana Krogan to impose a total 4½ years. After remand credit, Ali is left with a little more than 2½ years.

Krogan agreed to impose it.

Crown prosecutor Chris White told the court Ali has a prior record for violence, but nothing of this magnitude. According to the police statement of a second man implicated in the incident — Tyson Wilkinson, who has since pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit robbery — the plan had been for Wilkinson to facilitate what he thought to be a drug-related robbery.

That night, a drug transaction was arranged for a location on Harding Street. The complainant met Wilkinson there. Once Wilkinson got out of the complainant’s car, Ali came up behind and pumped five or six shots into the vehicle, hitting the complainant at least twice. Ali and Wilkinson got back into their vehicle, Ali firing one last shot into the car as they left the scene.

It wasn’t clear what type of firearm was used.

Police arrived to find the victim badly wounded. He was taken to hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery. He remained in hospital for two months, court heard.

He initially named both Ali and Wilkinson, resulting in their arrests. Wilkinson provided a statement that he didn’t know a shooting was to occur when he set up the shakedown.

But despite their initial statements to police, both proved unco-operative by the time the preliminary hearing rolled around, White said. Given that, and the lengths to which the Crown would have had to go to secure a conviction, it opted to enter into a deal.

Stooshinoff said his client was born and raised in Toronto by parents who were refugees to Canada, and that his client fell into a bad crowd and the drugs that came with it. He followed a girlfriend to Regina, where he later returned to his old ways and ended up involved in this crime.

Stooshinoff said his client was on drugs the night of the shooting and doesn’t know why he did what he did, although Ali said he was angry because the victim had ripped him off in the past.

“He says that he just was doing drugs, was angry, wanted to scare this guy,” Stooshinoff told the court.

Ali offered a brief apology, saying he was sorry for anyone hurt by his actions.

Krogan urged Ali to take steps to change his ways, pointing out he is young enough to make something better of himself and is lucky the victim wasn’t killed.

She added he should do better for the sake of his parents.

“They hoped, I imagine, to bring their family to a welcoming and safe country,” Krogan said. “I’m confident that they hoped for good things for their children, not that one of them would, by his behaviour and choices, add to a lack of safety here.”

Wilkinson previously received a 30-month sentence for his role.

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It’s the sort of crime that might seem odd or quirky, but more than one business out there won’t be smiling about the fact tooth whitening products are a target for some thieves.

As noted by the Regina Police Service (RPS) in a recent news release about a late September theft of such products, “There’s a market for everything.”

“Shoplifting and taking Whitestrips is a little unusual,” acknowledged RPS spokeswoman Elizabeth Popowich this week.

According to police, what’s termed a “distraction theft” occurred on Sept. 26 at about 4:20 p.m. at a business on the 2000 block of Park Street.

One man reportedly stood at the end of an aisle to keep watch while a male and female accomplice cleared the shelves of thousands of dollars worth of Whitestrips. Police believe the thieves scooped the products into a makeshift bag attached to the inside of the female suspect’s coat.

Once at the checkout area, the first man distracted an employee so the other suspects could slip out the door.

Police believe the suspects in the Regina offence — Caucasians in the age range of 40 to 50 years — might have been involved in yet-unsolved similar incidents from December 2019.

Not only is the September incident not the first time tooth whitening products have been stolen in Regina, it’s actually more common in North America than one would think. An internet search reveals news stories of similar incidents in numerous communities over the past few years, both in Canada and the United States. Popowich said she too checked and found references online to incidents as far back to 2001, around the time the product first came into being.

“One (case) for instance, the fellow allegedly had taken this product out of stores in a whole area in southern Ontario,” she noted.

The higher price point might make them attractive to thieves, as does the fact it’s much smaller to conceal and move than, say, a television, she said.

One theory police are entertaining is that the suspects in the Regina offences aren’t local, but rather made a stop here to commit the offence. Popowich pointed out this type of nomadic criminal activity isn’t unusual, with fraudsters and counterfeiters frequently carrying out “travelling schemes.”

Police are checking online marketplaces, which are littered with tooth whitening products and other pricier toiletry items for sale.

“(Investigators) haven’t as yet discovered anything there, so it may well be that the product is being taken out of Regina entirely or out of this area entirely and sold online somewhere else,” Popowich said.

While police might ordinarily be busier with more routine thefts, they have had rashes of crime over the years related to more unusual items. Among such items are tailgates, batteries, airbags — “It would seem to me that’s a lot of work,” Popowich said — diesel particulate filters, copper pipe and wire, and even emission control devices on larger vehicles.

While she made it clear police know many products sold online are legit, people should always exercise caution when buying from a seller they don’t know or know they can trust.

“It’s always a great idea to shop local, so shop in a store with a door and that way you know that you are getting a product that you know is not stolen property,” she said. “That’s not to say that acquiring something online automatically means that it’s been acquired unlawfully. I’m not saying that at all … But when you do shop online, there’s always a risk that you’re not going to get the thing that you see in the picture.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Regina Police Service at 306-777-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

hpolischuk@postmedia.com

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A 20 year-old Regina man is charged with aggravated assault after allegedly endangering the life of a one-year-old girl, police said Friday.

According to the Regina Police Service, the investigation began early Wednesday evening when officers were sent to hospital for a report that EMS was en route to hospital with a critically-injured child. EMS suspected the girl’s injuries were the result of physical abuse.

The girl received medical treatment that is still ongoing Friday, police reported.

Police investigators from the Regina Children’s Justice Centre — an integrated unit, made up of police investigators, child protection workers from the Ministry of Social Services, child abuse physicians from the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Crown Prosecutor’s Office — were requested.

While the investigation is still ongoing, investigators determined there was sufficient evidence to charge an adult male, who is not related to the victim but lives in the same residence.

Bailey Carter Peepetch, 20, is charged with aggravated assault. He made his first court appearance Thursday morning in Regina Provincial Court.

The lawyer for a man convicted and sentenced in a gruesome gang torture case in Saskatoon argued the judge’s sentence was marred by the fact he didn’t order a Gladue report.

The case of Matthew Junior Gamble was debated before the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal on Thursday, when defence lawyer Laura Mischuk argued the sentence imposed was demonstrably unfit because Justice Richard Danyliuk hadn’t availed himself of a Gladue report, rather opting to proceed with a trio of pre-sentence reports (PSRs).

But Crown prosecutor Kelly Kaip urged the court to leave the sentence untouched, stating the judge had sufficient information before him, and that any outstanding issues the defence wanted addressed could have been adequately covered via PSRs — if Gamble hadn’t proved unco-operative with the report writer.

Gamble, now 37, was convicted in February 2019 of aggravated assault and unlawful confinement for a May 2017 incident in which a man — said to be associated with a rival gang to Gamble’s — was confined by Gamble and two others.

Following trial, Danyliuk determined the victim, over a number of hours, was beaten, branded with the initials of two gangs and had part of his left ring finger cut off.

“The torture and assault only stopped when the victim escaped,” Danyliuk wrote in his January sentencing decision. “These offences are made even more heinous by the fact that Mr. Gamble took the time to heat knives on the kitchen stove, which were used to brand the victim. These are terrible offences.”

The judge noted the effects on the victim are obvious and permanent, and that he is physically “scarred for life.”

Following remand credit, Gamble was left with close to five years remaining of an imposed 7½-year sentence.

A month before passing sentencing, Danyliuk returned a decision on a request by defence for a Gladue report. These reports are intended to look in detail not just at an Indigenous offender’s specific history, but at how his or her life and offending history have been impacted by things like intergenerational trauma, residential schools, colonialism and racism.

Full, taxpayer-funded Gladue reports — as pointed out by Kaip — are typically the exception rather than the rule, reserved for cases in which pre-sentence reports and other methods are incapable of providing needed information. Danyliuk ultimately found no evidence the details contained within the PSRs — including answers to Gladue-related questions — were insufficient to allow him to make a decision on sentence without ordering a full Gladue report.

Kaip argued Danyliuk went on, despite a lack of co-operation from Gamble with the report writer, to consider Gladue factors in this case. It was because of that consideration, Kaip suggested, that Gamble didn’t receive something higher.

But Mischuk argued the sentence is not what it should have been had the judge had the benefit of a fulsome report looking into factors like what impact Gamble’s stepfather — also a gang member — had on his entering into gang life himself, or how residential schools might have impacted him.

“The more information we have about this individual’s background, the better,” Mischuk said, arguing the PSR writer conducted only a “surface-level inquiry” into Gamble’s issues.

Kaip argued those are the sorts of details an offender and his or her defence counsel are required to introduce, and that the onus is on them to do so.

Chief Justice Robert Richards and Justices Neal Caldwell and Jeff Kalmakoff reserved decision.

hpolischuk@postmedia.com

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Through his lawyer, a 32-year-old man with a history of child pornography offences claimed he doesn’t derive pleasure from it.

Rather, he argued it’s a means to deal with his own past trauma.

“What happened is kind of a unique and bizarre situation from his background,” said Ryan Avery Nicholson’s defence lawyer Corinne Maeder during a recent sentencing Regina Provincial Court. “It’s a way for himself to relive the trauma that he lived as a child, perhaps as a means to punish himself, seeing himself as the person in the videos.”

The unusual claim springs from a situation in Nicholson’s childhood in which he was reportedly made to perform sexual acts with a female friend while her father videotaped them — making him a victim of child pornography.

Nicholson has since accrued a number of child porn offences, including three he was sentenced for this month. The Crown had initially considered requesting a long-term offender assessment, but a deal was reached between Crown and defence for a total sentence of just over five years, one month. After remand credit, Nicholson is left with four years to serve.

Nicholson already had a child porn offence on his record when, between January 2019 and January 2020, he was caught with more of the same. Crown prosecutor Zoey Kim-Zeggelaar said police were doing a probation check on Nicholson in January 2019 when they discovered he was in breach of a condition related to devices and use of the internet. His devices were seized and the Internet Child Exploitation Unit discovered several images and a video showing children being sexually abused.

In March 2019, the ICE Unit was conducting an independent investigation into a number of pornographic images sent via Kik messenger service. The sender, they discovered, was Nicholson.

Police later learned Nicholson had moved to Saskatoon in breach of his order. He was arrested there in January 2020 on outstanding warrants, at which time a cellphone was found on him containing more pornographic images.

While the total number of images over the three offences amounted to less than 100 — far higher numbers have been seen by the courts — Kim-Zeggelaar and Maeder agreed the offences were serious.

Maeder said Nicholson began using alcohol and drugs very young. At the time of these offences, he had hit “absolute rock bottom,” she said.

“He is remorseful, your Honour, because he actually knows what the children in those videos have gone through,” she said, stating he told her he will “never do this again.”

Judge Noah Evanchuk said he certainly hopes that’s the case, warning that should Nicholson return to court for similar offences, he could potentially be looking at an indeterminate sentence.

“I want you to reflect on the fact that child pornography is inherently exploitative to the most vulnerable people in society …,” Evanchuk said. “There are means and ways in which you can deal with your trauma that doesn’t ever involve you having anything to do with material that hurts children.”

Nicholson was placed on the sex offender registry for life and is subject to a 14-year order restricting his access to children and the internet.

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Regina police are looking for three suspects after an altercation involving a firearm and machetes early Saturday morning.

On October 10, 2020 at approximately 1:26 a.m., police were dispatched to the 2100 block of Albert Street in regards to a weapons offence involving a firearm.

Several witnesses in the area called police after hearing what they believed to be multiple gunshots.

Police attended and located a 32-year-old male victim with an apparent gunshot wound.

In a release, police say further investigation determined that an altercation had occurred inside a business establishment between the victim and three other individuals.

After leaving the establishment, the victim walked outside when three males involved in the original altercation exited a vehicle.

Two of the suspects each had machetes and a third suspect had a gun. As the victim attempted to flee, he was subsequently shot.

The victim was transported to the hospital where he was treated for non-life threatening injuries.

The first suspect was the male with the gun. He is described as African Canadian, with short hair and a husky build, wearing a green or brown hoodie.

The second and third suspects, both of whom were carrying machetes, were described as African Canadian males.

The vehicle the suspects were in is described as a silver sedan.

Police have no information suggesting anyone else was injured during the incident, but say the incident itself posed a significant risk to the public.

The investigation is ongoing.

Anyone with information that could assist police in this investigation is asked to contact the Regina Police Service at 306-777-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800 222-8477.

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A baby girl who was allegedly assaulted by a 20-year-old man has died from her injuries.

According to a Regina Police Service (RPS) news release issued on Thursday, police were notified of the child’s death on the evening of Oct. 9.

Earlier that day, police issued a release that 20-year-old Bailey Carter Peepeetch had been charged with aggravated assault in connection with the one-year-old child’s injuries. Police had previously said Peepeetch was not related to the child but lived in the same residence.

He has been remanded into custody until Oct 20.

The investigation began on the evening of Oct. 7 when officers were sent to a hospital for a report that EMS was en route with a critically-injured child. EMS suspected the girl’s injuries were the result of physical abuse.

Since the child’s death, the Regina Children’s Justice Centre and the RPS’ major crimes unit have been working with the Saskatchewan Coroners Service and the Crown Prosecutor’s Office to determine appropriate next steps.

The Regina Children’s Justice Centre is an integrated unit, made up of police investigators, child protection workers from the Ministry of Social Services, child abuse physicians from the Saskatchewan Health Authority and the Crown Prosecutor’s Office.

The RPS said there were no other details to share. It will provide another update when more information is available.

Police and SaskPower are warning the public about a serious safety risk after someone stole several lengths of copper wire used for grounding at a local site.

According to information from the Regina Police Service, police were notified on Wednesday morning that someone had broken into an energy site compound at 160 North Albert Street sometime over the weekend.

While inside, the culprit cut and removed several lengths of copper, which is kept fastened to fence line to ground the site. Grounding provides a safe way for an electrical device to discharge excess electricity.

On Tuesday, an employee noticed three locks had been cut on the compound’s west side. The employee replaced the locks to secure the property, but that night, one was cut and the remaining copper grounding was stolen.

“According to officials from SaskPower, the removal of the copper grounding has the potential to electrify the fence, posing a potential serious risk to public safety, and to the perpetrators themselves, of electrocution and possible death,” reads the police news release.

This isn’t the first time thieves have targeted copper wire used by SaskPower. Earlier this year, SaskPower said thieves frequently target power poles, causing serious safety concerns and potential instability in the power grid.

In the case of the compound, police advise there is a larger public safety concern since the site lies within a heavily populated urban area.

“Any unauthorized entry into the site or subsequent thefts could pose a public safety risk,” police said.

Police are investigating but ask that anyone with information on any of the recent copper thefts call the RPS at 306-777-6500 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Three videos taken at a Regina house party two years ago are seen by both Crown and defence counsel as crucial in the trial for a youth accused of fatally stabbing a 16-year-old girl.

But while the Crown believes the videos will help prove its case against the 17-year-old accused, the defence suggests it will show only how chaotic and confusing the scene was.

A trial began on Monday for the youth, who was 15 at the time of the alleged offence, on a charge of second-degree murder in the Oct. 14, 2018 homicide. Neither he nor the homicide victim can currently be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

On Monday afternoon, both the Crown — via co-Crown counsel Nathanial Scipioni — and defence — through co-defence counsel Andrew Hitchcock — provided the jury with opening statements intended to act as roadmaps of how they see the evidence being presented within the next four weeks.

The incident occurred in the basement of a house at 949 Cameron St. during a drinking party that had been announced via social media. The jury was told numerous people attended, and Hitchcock said several brought weapons.

The accused and the victim were said to be familiar with each other but not particularly friends. The jury heard an altercation occurred between the two of them during the night. Hitchcock described it as a “fight”; Scipioni said the accused attacked the victim, punching her numerous times in the head and putting her on the ground — an incident said to have been captured on video by partygoers.

Moments later, after the two had been separated by a flurry of other partygoers, the girl received a single, fatal stab wound just above the collar bone, hitting her jugular vein and entering her lung. She died within minutes.

Scipioni told jurors evidence will show the accused blindsided the victim. Hitchcock intends to argue the evidence of what happened — and who delivered the fatal wound — is less than clear.

Scipioni said evidence will show the accused handed a vest he was wearing — one containing two folding knives — to a friend. The Crown said the vest and one of the knives were found to contain the victim’s blood.

The jury heard from three police witnesses on Monday afternoon, one who was among the first on the scene and two who were working in the forensic identification unit at the time.

Monday marked the first jury selection in Regina since COVID-19 restrictions began in March. Jury trials are now being held at the Conexus Arts Centre to allow for social distancing , particularly among jurors who would otherwise be seated immediately next to each other in a jury box or sequestered inside a small jury room.

During Monday’s jury selection, numerous steps were taken to adhere to Saskatchewan’s COVID-19 safety guidelines, with the approximately 230 members of the jury pool along with members of the public going through a range of safety measures.

Those attending were required to wear masks and to use hand sanitizer upon entering the building. Stickers were laid out on the floor to indicate direction and maintain social distancing among those in line. Security staff then screened those coming in, taking forehead temperatures and asking questions to check for potential COVID-19 exposure.

hpolischuk@postmedia.com

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Regina police say they have arrested a 71-year-old man with a prior history of committing violent sexual offences.

Steven Brian Ewanchuk was the subject of a public safety alert in June . At that time, police said he was going to be living at a residence in the Heritage neighbourhood that would provide supervision and monitoring.

Ewanchuk was arrested around 10:15 a.m. Monday on a warrant issued by the Correctional Service of Canada. A Regina police media release explained Ewanchuk was not facing any new charges but rather, was arrested and returned to closed custody due to “heightened concerns about (his) risk to re-offend.”

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A 20-year-old Regina man has now been charged with manslaughter in the death of a one-year-old girl in the city.

Bailey Carter Lance Peepeetch was initially charged with aggravated assault earlier this month, but on Tuesday, Regina police announced that a charge of manslaughter had been laid. Peepeetch made his first appearance in court on the new charge that same day and is due back on Oct. 29.

“This development comes as the result of the death of the victim and further investigation by police and other authorities. This is the eleventh homicide in Regina in 2020,” police said in the release.

Police have not released the name of the victim. In an earlier release, police stated Peepeetch was not related to the child but lived in the same residence.

An investigation began Oct. 7, 2020, when patrol members were sent at 5:24 p.m. to hospital for a report that EMS was enroute with the critically-injured girl. “EMS advised that the child’s injuries were suspected to be the result of physical abuse,” police said.

Investigation by the Regina Children’s Justice Centre (RCJC) resulted, initially, in a charge of aggravated assault. Investigators continued to monitor the condition of the victim in hospital. On Oct. 9, police were notified the baby had died in hospital. Further investigation by the RCJC and the major crimes unit followed, working with the Saskatchewan Coroners Service and the Crown to determine next steps.

On Monday, Peepeetch was re-arrested by police and the new charge laid.

This is the second Regina homicide involving a child this year.

On June 10, police responded to a call for an injured 18-month-old boy at a home on the 3200 block of Arens Road. He was subsequently pronounced dead in hospital. On Aug. 4, the child’s mother, 24-year-old Chelsea Rae Whitby, was charged with manslaughter.

The last time the city recorded 11 homicides in year was 2013.

Asked at the start of a trial Tuesday to watch cellphone videos showing violence that erupted at a Regina house party, an 18-year-old witness expressed reservations.

“I don’t want to watch it,” he said.

He did anyway, asked to identify people and events in the videos, taken by partygoers leading up to and in the moments following the fatal stabbing of 16-year-old Erica Hill O’Watch — known to many as Eliza.

Among those he identified was the 17-year-old male standing trial for second-degree murder in the Oct. 14, 2018 death — the person the witness said delivered the fatal wound.

The 17-year-old accused can’t be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act and the 18-year-old also isn’t being named as he was 16 at the time of the incident. Hill O’Watch’s name wasn’t initially released, but the court confirmed there is no publication ban on her name and her family has consented to publication.

The witness said he hosted the party at the Cameron Street house where he was living at the time. During a videotaped police interview played in court, the 18-year-old said the party “wasn’t supposed to get out of hand” but did anyway, having swollen to an estimated 50 to 60 people just in the small basement alone, with even more upstairs.

The witness told the jury fights broke out, with people name-calling and going after each other for various reasons.

“I don’t know what we were fighting over,” he said.

He told the court he tried to break things up but ended up on the floor getting stomped on.

He recalled Hill O’Watch being in fights with a couple of other girls as well as the accused. The witness told the court he didn’t believe Hill O’Watch was carrying a knife, but that the accused was — far from unusual at a North Central party, he added.

He testified about the moment Hill O’Watch was stabbed, describing a swinging motion allegedly made by the accused.

“She kind of staggered a bit and she was holding her neck,” the witness said.

A moment later, she fell to the floor.

The witness said she seemed to be in shock, and that he tried to help her, holding a hand and then a towel to the stab wound just above her clavicle.

“I said I wasn’t going to let her die,” he told the court.

The events described were captured to some extent by cellphone videos played in court. Punctuated by shouting and screams, the videos show a flurry of bodies as numerous people jump into the fray, either to fight or to try to separate those fighting.

Under cross-examination by defence lawyer Andrew Hitchcock, the witness acknowledged being among numerous people drinking that night and said he didn’t remember many parts of the evening. He added people, including him, were also using marijuana and that he took Xanax.

Hitchcock asked about others at the party with knives. The witness said he recalled some having them but not others. He also acknowledged while some people were trying to help the accused during the fighting, others piled on him.

Hitchcock suggested the witness didn’t actually see the stabbing, but the 18-year-old insisted he had.

The jury also heard from an advanced care paramedic who attended the incident. He said he and others worked on Hill O’Watch for approximately half an hour before declaring her dead at the scene.

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Video of a deadly melee that ended in the fatal stabbing of a 16-year-old girl was viewed multiple times by a Regina jury this week as various teenage partygoers provided their perspectives of what happened that night.

The incident was captured in a series of videos, each showing a flurry of movement underscored by screams and shouts and ending with Erica Hill O’Watch — known to many who knew her as Eliza — lying on the floor, dying of a stab wound.

The jury was previously told Hill O’Watch was pronounced dead in the basement of a house on the 900 block of Cameron Street shortly after 1 a.m. on Oct. 14, 2018. The Crown told jurors evidence will show Hill O’Watch died after suffering a single stab wound which cut her jugular vein and entered her lung.

The key question at trial, according to co-defence counsel Andrew Hitchcock, is who delivered that wound. According to the Crown, it was the now-17-year-old male standing trial for second-degree murder. But Hitchcock intends to argue the evidence is less than clear.

The youth cannot be named under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. As many of the witnesses are youths or were at the time of the incident, they also aren’t being named.

In an effort to make sense of the chaotic scene, both Crown and defence counsel have played through the videos multiple times, often slowing them down and moving frame by frame.

One of the witnesses — just 12 at the time of the party and the youngest to testify so far — wept this week after watching a video recorded on her phone.

Now 14, the girl said she was scared to go to the party but was goaded there by a then-friend.

When a brawl broke out among partygoers — some fighting, others trying to break things up — someone used the girl’s phone to record it.

She said she saw a couple of knives in the possession of partygoers, although she didn’t recall seeing one on the then-15-year-old accused. While she testified she saw the accused and Erica involved in a physical altercation, she said she didn’t see the stabbing.

Through tears, she said she learned Erica had been badly injured when she saw her fall.

“I seen her laying on the ground and there was blood all over the ground and on her,” she told the court.

She said she didn’t know what led to the fighting.

Under cross-examination, co-defence counsel Andrew Hitchcock pointed to a male on the video — not the accused — who he suggested was holding a knife. The witness admitted she too saw the person with the apparent knife in the video but testified she hadn’t noticed him the night of the party.

Court has heard from several witnesses who said it’s far from unusual for young people to take a weapon — commonly a knife — to parties in North Central Regina. One male witness said he took bear spray with him. Several witnesses have said they didn’t see Hill O’Watch with a weapon.

One male witness said he didn’t personally see weapons that night, but described parts of the fight, including putting another male in a chokehold to try to stop him fighting.

“I just saw some people trying to fight a girl, so I just stepped in and tried to help,” he said.

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A 16-year-old witness told the court the youth accused of murdering Erica Hill O’Watch had a switchblade with him the night of the fatal stabbing.

The teenage boy further testified the now-17-year-old accused and another male handed him a knife following the stabbing and told him to wipe it down for prints.

The 16-year-old was among several witnesses to testify on Monday at the second-degree murder trial for the 17-year-old, who is accused of delivering a single fatal stab wound to Hill O’Watch. The 16-year-old girl — known to many by the nickname Eliza — died in the basement of a home on the 900 block of Cameron Street on Oct. 14, 2018.

Under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, neither the accused nor the youth witness can be identified.

During his testimony, the teen said the 17-year-old was, and still is, a friend. The witness said he wasn’t armed himself that night, but was “pretty sure” the 17-year-old was carrying a “really dull” and “crappy” switchblade.

He described seeing his friend, at some point prior to the stabbing, hit Hill O’Watch. He said a group of people “piled on” the 17-year-old (then 15) as a result — an incident captured on various cellphone videos played repeatedly for jurors.

The 16-year-old said he was wanted on warrants at the time, so ran when he later saw Hill O’Watch on the floor, bleeding. By then, he said, his friend had already left.

The witness told the court he saw his friend and another male, along with a couple of girls, outside, and that the two males were holding a knife.

“They just handed it to me …,” he said. “I was told wipe it down.”

While he initially referred to both the accused and the other male giving the direction, during cross-examination, he didn’t disagree with a suggestion from co-defence counsel Andrew Hitchcock that it was the second male who passed him the knife.

Earlier in the day, court heard from a 22-year-old woman who said she was in a fight with Hill O’Watch that night.

Richelle Taniskishayinew told the court she believed Hill O’Watch was angry because she thought Taniskishayinew was “getting with her boyfriend.”

“I was blacked out,” she testified. “I just remember her being in my face, fighting.”

Taniskishayinew took exception to being told she would need to stand in court to watch a video of a brawl that occurred moments before the stabbing. Taniskishayinew demanded co-Crown counsel Nathanial Scipioni say please.

Scipioni appealed to Justice Janet McMurtry, who reminded Taniskishayinew this was a serious matter. Taniskishayinew insisted Scipioni wasn’t being polite but McMurtry said he was, then warned Taniskishayinew if she didn’t co-operate, she risked being taken into custody until she did.

After watching the video, Taniskishayinew said she didn’t recognize the female voice stating, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t mean to,” after Taniskishayinew had reportedly been punched in the nose by Hill O’Watch.

The jury heard from a third witness on Monday, also a teen partygoer, but despite attempts by lawyers to draw out more detailed responses, the bulk of his testimony was littered with replies like “Don’t know” and “Can’t remember.”

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A war launched following the homicide of a gangland figure, shifting loyalties and debts.

On Tuesday, Indian Mafia (IM) founder and president Ramie Louis Bellegarde — a man who brought his gang through rural areas and jails to a prominent spot in gangland Regina — stood before a video camera in a Prince Albert jail to be sentenced for, among other offences, instructing the commission of an offence for a criminal organization.

Angered by the shifting loyalties of two former fellow IM members, he threatened the lives of each and green-lighted hits on both — leading to the shooting of both by people connected to the IM.

“The street gang problem in our city often feels like an impossible, intractable problem these days,” noted Crown prosecutor Adam Breker. “And Mr. Bellegarde is seemingly an intractable offender. He’s at the helm, the very helm, of perhaps the most prevalent gang in the city over the last number of years.”

Breker and Bellegarde’s defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle put forward a joint recommendation to the court on charges that included the criminal organization offence as well as several counts of uttering threats and a breach. Other charges — including attempted murder — were stayed. The two sides also put forward a sentence which Judge Noah Evanchuk accepted — the equivalent of just over nine years.

At 40, Bellegarde has accrued a significant and virtually unbroken record, among his crimes a homicide and firearms offences.

Breker noted Bellegarde founded the IM around 2014, and was largely responsible for the gang’s proliferation of correctional facilities and city streets. In time, it came to surpass other, longer-established gangs, with numbers estimated at approximately 100 at any given time.

Following a gangland homicide in Regina, a shaky truce between the IM and Native Syndicate Killers broke down — leading to what Breker termed a “war.”

Two IM members — a high-ranking female and her boyfriend — ran afoul of Bellegarde when the boyfriend took exception to Bellegarde’s claims he owed a debt. The two left the IM and the male “patched over” to the NSK.

This was considered a slight to the IM, and Bellegarde reacted by issuing orders for both ex-members to be shot on sight.

Bellegarde eventually found himself in custody, and court heard he continued issuing instructions from jail via phone, both in relation to the hits and an attempt to have drugs smuggled inside. In calls intercepted by police, Bellegarde offered promotions to any IM member who executed his orders.

The female victim was targeted during a home invasion in July 2019. Several members rushed her house and a gun was aimed at her head. She grabbed the gun and was subsequently shot twice, once in each knee.

The male victim was twice targeted and shot, the first time in the groin during a drive-by and, six weeks later, in the head when his vehicle was shot up. Like his girlfriend, he survived the attempts, which occurred in September and October 2019.

Bellegarde was also sentenced for threatening to put a hit out on a jail guard he had a dispute with.

Pfefferle said his client is the product of both residential schools and a father said to have been both violent and the victim of an unsolved homicide. Pfefferle said Bellegarde effectively endured “sentencing from birth,” suffering significant abuse that would impact his life from then on.

Evanchuk noted those factors, but also drove home the fears Regina residents — particularly those in more vulnerable situations — experience due to gang violence and gun crime.

Various others charged in the offences remain before the court. Publication bans were issued on the names of several individuals in the meantime.

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