By Patrick Burles - (@PatrickBurles on Twitter)

Guilty plea entered in fatal stabbing near Taber

Jan 27, 2017 | 11:48 AM

LETHBRIDGE – A charge of second degree murder was replaced with one of manslaughter Friday (Jan. 27) for Stacey Charles Wahpistikwan.

With the change made, Wahpistikwan then entered a guilty plea to the new charge.

In an agreed statement of facts delivered to the court, he admitted that on September 22, 2015, he had been drinking with his sister and her boyfriend, Silas Kiseyinewakup, at the trailer they were living in near Taber.

The couple got into an argument and Kiseyinewakup assaulted Wahpistikwan’s sister, leading the two men to go outside. They returned to the trailer after the confrontation, but when Kiseyinewakup assaulted his girlfriend a second time, the two men again went outside.

The following morning, Wahpistikwan’s sister awoke to find Kiseyinewakup wasn’t in the trailer. Wahpistikwan told her that he didn’t know where he was and went to work.

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Outside, she found blood in the dirt and followed drag marks to an irrigation canal, where Kiseyinewakup’s body was discovered.

During their investigation, police found Wahpistikwan’s clothes in a bag, covered in the victim’s blood. In his first interview with police, he told them there was never any confrontation between himself and Kiseyinewakup, and that he didn’t know what had happened. In the second interview, however, Wahpistikwan admitted that they went outside to fight, and that Kiseyinewakup pulled a knife. He stated that he managed to get control of the weapon and stabbed Kiseyinewakup, but said he couldn’t remember where or how many times. Wahpistikwan then dragged Kiseyinewakup to the trailer, but decided to take his body to the canal when he realized he was dead.

Kiseyinewakup was stabbed a total of five times, two of which fatally damaged his heart and another his lungs.

A pre-sentence report and Gladue report — examining how his aboriginal background may have impacted his life — have both been ordered for Wahpistikwan.

A sentencing date will be set when the matter returns to court February 16.