Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - September 29, 2021, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE A3 Women’s Fashion and Footwear Boutique SIZES 0-14 • SELECTION & SERVICE www.girlcandyshop.com buy now, wear now! DENIM DROP 918 Grosvenor Ave. • 204.975.4605 TUES-SAT 10-6 TOP NEWS ASSOCIATE EDITOR NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM A3 WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 29, 2021 T HE TRIAL of a man charged in the alleged murder of a 22-month old boy has come to an abrupt end af- ter the sudden death of the accused. Allen Beardy, 25, was charged with second-degree murder in the August 2018 death of Drake Catcheway, his then-girlfriend’s son. The trial began in February and had been hearing testimony in fits and starts. It was set to resume last month before Beardy was killed in a motor- vehicle collision. “Obviously, as a result, the Crown is no longer in a position to proceed and we are entering a stay of proceedings in the matter,” Crown attorney Michelle Bright told Queen’s Bench Justice Ken Champagne at a brief hearing Tuesday morning. Defence lawyer Bruce Bonney called Beardy’s death “a sad end to a sad story.” During the trial, the court heard paramedics were called to Beardy’s mother’s Idlewild Bay home shortly before 11 p.m. and found Beardy in the living room performing CPR on the child. Paramedics were unable to revive the boy and rushed him to Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. In a subsequent police interview, Beardy told investigators Drake had fallen on his head three times that day: once as he and the boy’s mother were packing to leave for his mother’s house, a second time when he fell off a bed and a third when he was jumping on a couch. Police arrested Beardy a month later, saying the boy died from blunt-force trauma to his upper body. April Thompson, Drake’s mother, tes- tified at trial Beardy made no mention of Drake hurting himself until after paramedics arrived. Thompson told court she, Drake and Beardy arrived at the Maples home of Beardy’s mother sometime before 10 p.m. with the intention of spending the night. Thompson said she was in the kitchen washing dishes around 10 p.m. when Beardy took Drake to the basement to put him to bed. Thompson said Beardy returned a few minutes later and they started watching a movie in the living room. After a few minutes, Beardy said he was going downstairs to change for the night, but returned minutes later wear- ing the same clothes, Thompson said. “I said ‘I thought you were going to change?’ He said, ‘Oh, yeah, that’s why I went downstairs.’” Beardy went to the basement a third time, returned a couple of minutes later and “said he was worried about a bump on Drake’s head,” Thompson said. “I said, ‘What bump?’” Thompson said she found Drake on a mattress not breathing. “I saw my son sleeping in the corner,” she said. “I tried to wake him up and he wasn’t wak- ing up.” Thompson said she called 911 before Thompson’s sister, who arrived at the house with her boyfriend minutes ear- lier, took over the call. “Allen brought (Drake) upstairs,” she said. “He laid him down and started do- ing CPR on him. I’m not sure he knew how.” Thompson said she continued to see Beardy off and on for the next month, not thinking he had anything to do with Drake’s death, she said. But Beardy changed, she said. “He was different, he was being ag- gressive, he was drinking more,” she said. After Drake’s funeral, family mem- bers told Thompson about a cut to his head she hadn’t noticed before. “I didn’t think anything of it until my cousin accused (Beardy) of hurting my baby,” she said. When Thompson confronted Beardy with the allegation, “he wasn’t willing to discuss it,” she said. “He got mad and just walked away.” dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca Child’s accused killer dies in crash DEAN PRITCHARD Second-degree murder trial comes to sudden end A man has pleaded guilty to sexually abusing six boys and showing por- nography to them and other boys in a northern Manitoba community. Arnold Collier, 54, admitted in a Win- nipeg courtroom Tuesday to the sex assaults between 2017 and 2020. Court heard the victims were all under the age of 16 and Indigenous. Collier also pleaded guilty to breaching court orders that he not contact a previous victim from a 2018 conviction or associate with anyone under 16. There is a publication ban on infor- mation that could identify the victims or witnesses. The Canadian Press is not identifying the community where the abuse happened. The Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer said they will submit a joint recommendation of 22 years in pris- on, minus credit for time Collier has already served in custody. He is to be sentenced in Thompson on Dec. 1. Collier sat quietly in the back of the small courtroom as a long state- ment of facts was read into the re- cord. Collier is originally from New Bruns- wick. He moved back and forth from the Maritimes to the northern Mani- toba community where he worked as a mechanic. He was convicted of sexual interfer- ence in 2018 and was ordered not to have contact with children or the ori- ginal victim. Court heard that people still saw boys coming and going from his home after the conviction. Court also heard girls were never allowed at the house. The boys were from impoverished homes, the statement said. It said Col- lier would give them marijuana, beer and cigarettes. He would also give them money and have them sleep over, court heard. He would ask the boys to watch a movie but instead put on pornographic videos, the statement said. In some cases, Collier would ask the boys for sexual favours or if he could perform sexual acts on them, the state- ment said. Court heard some complied, feeling they had to in order to keep receiving gifts. Other times he would touch the boys while they were sleep- ing, court heard. One of the boys told police about the abuse in August 2020. Soon after, sev- eral others came forward and Collier was arrested. Following Collier’s arrest, RCMP said that providing gifts is a common way offenders groom their victims. “What occurred in this small com- munity is devastating,” RCMP Sgt. Paul Manaigre said at the time. — The Canadian Press Man pleads guilty to sexual abuse of six boys KELLY GERALDINE MALONE ENRAGED after his girlfriend told him she was leaving town without him, Dan- iel Jensen made a plan to hurt her in the most damaging way possible — by kill- ing her only child, the prosecution said in its closing argument Tuesday. “He was ready to hurt anyone who crossed his path, but most of all he wanted to hurt Clarice Smith. She was leaving him and he knew exactly how to hurt her,” Crown attorney Jennifer Mann told jurors. Jensen, 34, is on trial for first-de- gree murder in the October 2019 stab- bing of three-year-old Hunter Smith- Straight. Jurors have heard evidence Jensen assaulted Smith at the Northern Hotel after an argument over her decision to move to her mother’s home without him. Prosecutors allege that’s when Jensen made his way back to their Pritchard Avenue home and stabbed the sleeping child six times in his head and neck. Hunter was taken to hospital after suffering massive blood loss and ir- reversible brain damage. He was taken off life-support three days later and died. Witnesses have testified Jensen was let into the house to “check on” Hunter and left minutes later, a short time be- fore family members discovered the mortally wounded child. Jensen was arrested later that day. Blood found on Jensen’s hoodie, T-shirt and sweatpants was later matched to Hunter’s DNA. Jensen’s lawyers pointed the finger at another suspect in the home, one of Hunter’s adult cousins, who when ques- tioned by police that day had bloody injuries to his hands and blood on his clothing. That man testified he had injured himself when, in a fit of anger, he broke dishware and punched a door. Defence lawyer Bruce Bonney ac- cused police of focusing solely on Jen- sen while ignoring the cousin, who had several convictions for violence, includ- ing one for stabbing his brother. Bonney argued the man was angry because he, along with everyone else in the house, had to move out due to a vio- lation of the lease. “Before and after Hunter’s death he was subject to violent outbursts. It was in his nature,” he said. Police didn’t seize any of the man’s clothing and didn’t check to see if blood spatter at the scene matched his DNA, Bonney argued. Security video later that day showed Jensen visiting a Leila Avenue Boston Pizza restaurant and a liquor store be- fore he was arrested. Bonney said if Jensen had killed the boy, he would have made more of an ef- fort to hide. “If Daniel Jensen was running away to escape, he clearly wouldn’t be wan- dering around the city the next day,” he said. “Wouldn’t you think he’d be on the Trans-Canada Highway with his thumb out, trying to get out of town as quickly as possible?” Bonney argued Jensen came upon Hunter after he had been stabbed and that his blood ended up on his clothing after he tried to revive the boy. Mann rejected that theory, saying the blood spatter on Jensen’s clothing was consistent with someone holding the boy down with his left hand while stab- bing him with his right. “There is no doubt that Daniel Jensen killed Hunter, none at all,” she said. Evidence of an alternative suspect is enough to provide jurors with reason- able doubt, Bonney said. “Your duty is to ensure there is not a wrongful conviction here,” Bonney said. “If you were to say to me that Dan- iel Jensen was probably or likely guilty, I wouldn’t argue, but that’s not enough. He has to be proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.” Jurors are expected to start delibera- tions today. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca ‘There is no doubt’ accused killed three-year-old: Crown DEAN PRITCHARD SUPPLIED Drake Catcheway with his mother, April Thompson. Drake’s accused killer, Allen Beardy, is dead following a motor-vehicle collision. ‘A sad end to a sad story’ — Defence lawyer Bruce Bonney Hunter Smith-Straight A_05_Sep-29-21_FP_01.indd A3 2021-09-28 10:48 PM ;