A man has been sentenced to seven years in prison for manslaughter after he stabbed an acquaintance while walking down the street and then drove the victim to hospital, where he died.
Dean Richard Bell was walking along Swan River's main street with his half-brother on the evening of January 13, 2024, when he spotted 33-year-old Calvin Chartrand and his girlfriend.
At a house party a few days earlier, Bell had been kicked out in a fight and, Bell later told RCMP, he accused Chartrand of threatening him and taking his cellphone at the meeting.
Unprovoked, but likely motivated by the opportunity and the conflict between them at the party, the brothers approached and began a verbal altercation, Associate Chief Provincial Court Judge Jeffrey Bailey said in a sentencing decision earlier this month.
Bell demanded his phone back, then pulled out a knife and stabbed Chartrand in the face, causing his half-brother Tyrone Guibosh to tell Bell that enough was enough.
“However, the attack did not end and moments later Tyrone Guibosh joined in and physically assaulted the victim,” Bailey said. “The offender, with the assistance of his brother, stabbed Chartrand a second time, this time in the buttock, causing a fatal wound.”
Bell and Guibosh, who is in his early 40s, stopped attacking and decided to help Chartrand get to a local hospital, where he died of internal bleeding from a knife wound to his buttock that severed an artery, Bailey said.
RCMP arrested the brothers days later for the attack, which was captured on surveillance cameras and seen by witnesses.
Bell admitted stabbing Chartrand but told officers it was in self-defense due to alleged previous threats by Chartrand and the theft of his phone.
Bell, now 31, later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Bailey, who said “Chartrand died needlessly because of the defendant's actions,” found that Bell should be sentenced to eight years in prison.
But the judge ruled the sentence should be reduced by a year due to the Bell Gladu factors – systemic and background considerations that courts must consider when sentencing Indigenous people like Bell – and the fact that Bell helped Chartrand get medical attention.
“The perpetrator’s history of victimization, trauma and cultural disenfranchisement is inextricably linked to the shameful legacy of colonialism and our nation’s attempted cultural genocide,” Bailey said.
Bell's mother is from Duck Bay, but he was raised primarily by his father in Birch River. Father and son had a strained relationship, largely due to Bell's lifestyle and substance abuse problems.
He started drinking at age 18 and began using cocaine and methamphetamine around 26.
“This seven-year sentence reflects the serious nature of the crime, emphasizes the need to condemn violent acts within the community and emphasizes the importance of both specific and general deterrence, and takes into account the personal history of the offender,” Bailey wrote.
Guibosh, who was also charged with manslaughter, has not yet appeared in court. His next trial will take place in November.
Eric Pindera, newspaper reporter Free pressmainly focusing on crime and justice. The Winnipegger native attended Red River Polytechnic College and wrote for a local newspaper in Kenora, Ontario. and performed on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining Free press in 2020. More about Eric.
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