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Your Beach GETAWAY! 2025 S h o w y o u r l o v e w i t h a g i f t t h a t g i v e s b a c k ! THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2025WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM ● A5 NEWS I COURTS Wildman jury retires after first day without verdict A FTER a month-long trial, jurors are decid- ing the fate of Eric Wildman, the man ac- cused of murdering and hiding the body of a neighbour he allegedly caught stealing from him on his rural Manitoba property. Wildman, 38, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the July 2021 killing of 40-year-old Clifford Joseph. Jurors began deliberations noon Wednesday af- ter receiving their final instructions from King’s Bench Justice Richard Saull. The jury retired at 9:25 p.m. without a verdict. Wildman and Joseph lived on neighbouring properties near Stead, about 90 kilometres north- east of Winnipeg. Prosecutors allege Wildman caught Joseph stealing a winch from his property in the early hours of June 7, ran him down with his vehicle, breaking his jaw, leg and ribs, then moved him to a bushy area a few kilometres away, where he shot him at least two times, including once in the back of the head. Jurors heard Wildman made his living fixing and selling cars and trucks until a fire in May 2021 destroyed his house and several vehicles on his property. Cristin Wise, Joseph’s girlfriend, testified he left the house at about 3:30 a.m., June 7, telling her he was going to Wildman’s property to steal a winch. Wise said she went to the property later that day to look for Joseph and found his truck across the road with his keys and phone inside. She also found tire tracks and Joseph’s hat, shoes and head- lamp. Later, she found Joseph’s tools near a trailer and reported him missing to RCMP. Wildman called RCMP from his mother’s Win- nipeg home on June 9 and claimed on the night of Joseph’s disappearance, he had been staying at a friend’s home. Investigators later found Wildman’s Chevrolet Impala outside another friend’s house in Winni- peg. Inside the car, police found an empty gun case and a receipt from an auto part store dated June 9, where jurors heard Wildman purchased a new hood and replaced it in the parking lot. Pros- ecutors allege Wildman replaced the hood to cov- er up the damage that occurred when he ran over Joseph. After RCMP towed Wildman’s vehicle, he called Mounties from his mother’s home to report a handgun missing from his Stead property. Pros- ecutors allege Wildman knew police would have found the gun case in his car and claimed it was stolen to divert suspicion. Police told him he was a suspect in Joseph’s kill- ing and to stay where he was. Instead, Wildman took a taxi to the airport, rented a car and drove to Belleville, Ont., where police arrested him June 18. In a closing argument before jurors Monday, defence lawyer Martin Glazer dismissed the Crown’s theory Wildman killed Joseph after catching him trying to steal a winch as “absurd,” arguing it was far more likely that Joseph, a man caught up in the illegal drug trade, was murdered by someone he had crossed. “(Eric Wildman) is no killer,” Glazer said. “Whoever killed Clifford Joseph was a person or persons who knew what they were doing and knew Clifford Joseph.” Wildman can be heard on jail phone call record- ings played for jurors telling people his car hood was damaged after he “smoked a deer.” Last week, a collision reconstruction expert and former police officer called by the defence testi- fied the car showed no “conclusive” signs it had hit a person. The Crown’s own collision expert could not rule out damage to the vehicle had been caused by hit- ting a deer, Glazer said Monday. Police found no blood or DNA in Wildman’s car that could be linked to Joseph, he said. Prosecutors countered that Joseph’s initial in- juries, before he was shot, did not puncture his skin and caused no bleeding. Glazer said Wildman made a “bad decision” when he fled Winnipeg for Ontario, but that doesn’t mean he killed Joseph. “He panicked,” Glazer said. “He realized he can’t trust the police and he leaves. … The fact he made a bad choice doesn’t make him guilty of murder.” Crown attorney Bryton Moen said the evidence against Wildman is overwhelming and should leave jurors with no doubt as to his guilt. Wildman knew neighbours had been stealing from him “and he was ready to deal with it,” Moen said. “The evidence in this case is no coincidence. “Eric Wildman didn’t randomly decide to change the hood on his car, he didn’t suddenly de- cide to drive halfway across the country, he didn’t happen to have access to firearms which dis- charge the same kind of ammunition that is con- sistent with what was found in Clifford Joseph’s head and back.” dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca DEAN PRITCHARD Former bagel shop owner sentenced to 51 months for role in drug ring A FORMER Winnipeg bagel shop owner has been sentenced to 51 months in prison after he started making dough in the city’s illegal drug trade. Chris Silva, 49, co-owner of Hudson Bagels on Sherbrook Street, pleaded guilty last summer to one count of possessing cash obtained by crime. Silva was arrested in December 2022 following an 18-month Winnipeg Police Service organized crime probe into a drug network with interprov- incial connections. Additional charges of trafficking a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of traf- ficking were stayed by the Crown. The investigation, dubbed Project Onyx, netted the arrest of 13 people and seizure of 50 kilograms of cocaine, 20 kg of methamphetamine, smaller quantities of other illicit drugs, handguns, 12 ve- hicles and $500,000 in cash. At a sentencing hearing Wednesday, defence lawyer Eric Wach described Silva as a hard-work- ing father of two driven by an “entrepreneurial spirit.” “You chose the wrong business,” King’s Bench Justice Shauna McCarthy told Silva. “I can’t im- agine how you would feel if someone tried to push drugs on your children. “It is clear you were significantly involved … and at this for some time. This isn’t something you just dipped your toe in.” Silva apologized for the “hurt and pain” he caused his family and community. “Giving back to the community is what I truly want to do,” he said. “That is my purpose.” Silva’s involvement in the drug network was de- tailed in an agreed statement of facts provided to court. Court heard investigators learned in the sum- mer of 2021 of a high-level drug network run by two Manitoba men, Biniam Fitur and alleged co-accused Devon Creary, who were overseeing a group of drug traffickers and importing large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine into the province. Fitur pleaded guilty last April to trafficking a controlled substance and was sentenced to eight years in prison. Creary is charged with the same offence and remains before the court. During the course of the lengthy investigation, police intercepted communications in homes and vehicles and covertly entered homes and vehi- cles to install video surveillance equipment and search luggage. Silva came to police attention when a vehicle registered in his name was spotted at a meeting with Fitur at Deacon’s Corner in July 2022. The vehicle was again spotted at a meeting with Fi- tur at the Southdale Mall in Winnipeg in October 2022. In November 2022, police saw Fitur leave his home carrying a black gift bag — which investi- gators had previously searched without his know- ledge by covertly entering his home — that con- tained about $40,000 in cash. Fitur met with Silva at the mall and gave him the bag; investigators followed Silva home to con- firm his identity. In early December 2022, Silva again got cash from Fitur, then shipped a package to British Col- umbia under a false name, which was found to contain about $95,000. Silva was arrested Dec. 14, 2022, the same day police found two kilos of cocaine in his garage, as well as $16,000 in cash and score sheets used to tally how much money or drugs he was owed. Evidence seized from Silva’s home and through surveillance show Silva “was an important part of (the drug network) and handled significant amounts of cash for the organization,” Crown at- torney Kirsty Elgert told court. The 51-month sentence was jointly recom- mended by the Crown and defence in a plea bar- gain that took into account a likely defence chal- lenge of the warrant to search Silva’s home, had the case gone to trial, Elgert said. McCarthy agreed to the recommendation, say- ing it was “perhaps on the low end, but I don’t know all the ins and outs that went into negotia- tions.” McCarthy ordered that $7,200 seized from Silva’s home be forfeited to the province and that the balance of the seized cash be returned to Silva through his lawyer. dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca DEAN PRITCHARD SUPPLIED Clifford Joseph, 40, was killed in 2021. ;