Sentencing set for for manslaughter

A 40-year-old man who killed his sisters’ boyfriend more than two years ago will be sentenced in January, a year after he pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.

Stacey Charles Wahpistikwan was scheduled to be sentenced earlier this month in Taber provincial court, but the hearing had to be adjourned while defence waits for a medical report. During a brief hearing Friday in Lethbridge provincial court, defence and the Crown indicated the report would likely be ready for a sentencing hearing Jan. 29.

Wahpistikwan pleaded guilty to manslaughter Jan. 27 of this year after he was originally charged with second-degree murder for the death of 36-year-old Silas Kiseyinewakup.

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

The couple got into an argument and Kiseyinewakup assaulted his girlfriend, prompting the two men to go outside to fight. 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 he didn’t know where he was and went to work.

The woman found blood outside in the dirt and followed drag marks to an irrigation canal, where she found Kiseyinewakup’s body.

After police found a bag of Wahpistikwan’s clothes covered in the victim’s blood, he claimed there was never any confrontation between himself and Kiseyinewakup, and he didn't know what had happened. However, in a second police interview, Wahpistikwan admitted that during a fight Kiseyinewakup pulled a knife.

He said he managed to get control of the weapon and stabbed Kiseyinewakup, but 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.

Follow @DelonHerald on Twitter