Nickel Belt News Volume 60 • Issue 41
Friday, October 9, 2020
Thompson, Manitoba
Serving the Norman Region since 1961
Murder conviction for 2009 Bernard Hart killing upheld by appeals court
BY IAN GRAHAM
EDITOR@THOMPSONCITIZEN.NET
The murder conviction of a Thompson man found guilty of the 2009 killing of Bernard Hart was upheld by the Manitoba Court of Appeals in a decision published Sept. 22. Raymond McDonald had appealed the conviction, his second for the murder of Hart, who was from Oxford House, on the grounds that the verdict was unreasonable. McDonald was previously convicted in 2015 of first-degree murder for Hart’s killing but that conviction was overturned by the appeals court in 2017. He was tried again by a judge alone in 2019 and convicted of first-degree murder. Lawyers for McDonald argued that one of three other people convicted in Hart’s killing – Skylar Spence – didn’t make it clear that they would be taking the victim into the bush on the east side of Thompson to kill him and that Hart may have been dead before he was taken from an Eastwood apartment and into the bush. Spence and two youths who were also convicted in Hart’s killing testified reluctantly at McDonald’s
second trial and provided contradictory evidence, the appeals court found, but the judge did not make a mistake in rejecting some of their testimony and accepting other portions. “The verdict was supported by the evidence taken as a whole and not plainly contradicted or demonstrably incompatible with the evidence that was accepted,” said the Court of Appeal decision. “The trial judge’s decision is entitled to deference. The appeal is dismissed.” McDonald’s first conviction was overturned in July 2017 when the appeals court found that the trial judge erred in allowing a Crown witness to read a prior statement to police as part of his testimony and for not instructing the jury properly on how to consider that statement. When Hart’s body was initially found on July 8, 2009, an autopsy was unable to determine the cause of death. Later, after Spence and McDonald were incarcerated on other charges at The Pas Correctional Centre, an informant told police that they had admitted to him that they were involved in Hart’s death. His body was
Courtroom 330 at the Manitoba Court of Appeal. exhumed and examined for an unrelated crime at by a forensic anthropolo- Stony Mountain Institugist, who found evidence tion and taken to RCMP of both sharp and blunt- “D” Division in Winnipeg force trauma and Hart’s for questioning should not death was reclassified as have been admitted as evia homicide. dence. But the Court of Spence appealed his Appeal found in 2017 that conviction on the grounds the trial judge considered that statements made to an the proper factors when undercover police officer deciding whether to admit posing as his cellmate evidence obtained by the while he was serving time undercover officer.
Four arrests made for robbery, uttering threats and weapons offences in Norway House
RCMP photos Norway House RCMP recovered a BB gun and a set of brass knuckles from a vehicle they stopped Oct. 1 while responding to a report of an armed man threatening people in a residence. Four people were arrested in connection with the incident. Norway House RCMP arrested two men and two women Oct. 1 after responding to a report of a man armed with a handgun threatening people inside a home. Officers learned upon arrival at the home that a robbery had also taken place and that multiple suspects had left the home
in a vehicle. Other police en route to the scene saw the suspect vehicle on Provincial Road 373 and stopped it, confirming that the driver matched the description of one of the suspects. A search turned up a BB gun and a set of brass knuckles. The driver and passengers were arrested.
A 32-year-old Norway House woman is facing charges of robbery, breaking and entering, carrying a concealed weapon and possessing property obtained by crime, among others. A 38-year-old Winnipeg man is facing charges of unauthorized possession of a firearm, uttering threats and being
unlawfully in a dwelling house, among others. The 38-year-old male driver and a 30-year-old female, both from Norway House, are facing charges of unauthorized possession of a firearm and possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose. Norway House RCMP continue.to investigate.
Winnipeg man fined for violating travel ban and arrested on outstanding warrants while in Leaf Rapids A man stopped by Leaf Rapids RCMP was fined for violating the ban on non-essential travel north of the 53rd parallel and arrested on several charges and outstanding warrants, Manitoba RCMP said Sept. 29. Offices were on patrol on Keyask Bay in the Northern Manitoba community when they came across the man and began questioning him. He admitted that he was visiting from Winnipeg to attend a wedding. When police asked him for identification, he provided several false names. When he was eventually identi-
fied, officers discovered he had several outstanding warrants and arrested him. Kyle Baker, 21, was fined $486 for failing to comply with the public health emergency order on travel to Northern Manitoba and charged with two counts of failing to comply as well as obstruction of justice. He was also arrested on warrants from Winnipeg for assault with a weapon, two counts of uttering threats and eight counts of failing to comply with court orders. Baker was remanded into custody and investigation continues.
Man arrested after stabbing dog and assaulting woman in Garden Hill First Nation A 30-year-old man from Garden Hill First Nation is facing charges after a dog was stabbed and a woman assaulted on Sept. 28. Island Lake RCMP received a report from Garden Hill around 1 p.m. that a man had walked up and stabbed the dog outside a residence with a knife and then assaulted a woman who came out of the residence to confront him.
The man left the area but was located and arrested by police. The woman did not require medical treatment but the dog died of its injuries. The man is charged with assault, possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose and animal cruelty. He is scheduled to appear in court Dec. 16 and Island Lake RCMP continue to investigate.