By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Former Saskatchewan man gets six-years for fatal stabbing

Apr 12, 2018 | 3:44 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A 41-year-old man originally from the Big Island First Nation in Saskatchewan, has received a six-year prison sentence for fatally stabbing his sister’s boyfriend in 2015.

Stacey Charles Wahpistikwan was sentenced Thursday, April 12, more than a year after he pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the death of 36-year-old Silas Kiseyinewakup. He admitted to stabbing Kiseyinewakup during a confrontation outside the trailer they were living in near Taber.

Sentencing was pushed back multiple times, due to delays in the preparation of numerous pre-sentence reports for Wahpistikwan.

While outlining his decision, Judge Derek Redman noted factors that had been identified in several of those reports. One revealed that the offender is clinically impaired as he suffers from a moderate mental disability that prevents him from being able to predict the outcomes of his actions.

A Gladue report looking into his Aboriginal heritage, found that Wahpistikwan was initially abandoned by his parents in the hospital at birth, and that alcohol abuse and violence were a part of his upbringing. He continues to struggle with addiction issues, but as Redman noted, he has shown interest in seeking treatment.

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Redman acknowledged that Wahpistikwan and the victim had been drinking heavily on the night of the incident, and that it was Kiseyinewakup who pulled the knife during a fight – stating that Wahpistikwan’s actions were impulsive and not planned.

The sentence falls between the Crown prosecutor’s recommendation of seven years and the defence request of four to five years.

Wahpistikwan was also given a credit of 990 days for time already served in pre-trial custody, leaving just over three years on the sentence.

Facts of the case

In an agreed statement of facts delivered to the court, Wahpistikwan admitted that on September 22, 2015, he had been drinking with his sister and 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.

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.