Man gets five years for bludgeoning girlfriend

A Morley man apologized before being sentenced on Friday to five years in prison for the bludgeoning death of his girlfriend at his home on the Stoney reserve just under a year ago.

Butch Durant Chiniquay, 26, called the death of Charmaine Lavina Wesley, 24, on Jan. 27, 2011, an accident. However, he admitted responsibility for his actions that led to the death of the woman with whom he had a two-month relationship.

“I really loved her so much,” an emotional Chiniquay said before Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Colleen Kenny accepted a manslaughter plea and joint sentencing submission by Crown prosecutor Hyatt Mograbee and defence lawyer Adriano Iovinelli.

“I’ve changed my life and I’ll be a better man. . . . I pray for her. I’m so sorry for her family and for my family.”

Chiniquay had faced a more serious charge of second-degree murder, but Mograbee said the Crown had some serious issues on the evidence to support that charge, partly because Wesley had suffered some injuries to the face from a car accident two days before she was killed.

Medical examiner Dr. Evan Matshes, who conducted the autopsy, concluded in his report that the fatal blunt-force injuries were caused during the last minutes or hours of Wesley’s life and were not attributed to the single-vehicle accident on Jan. 25.

Matshes said subdural hemorrhages were extensive in three places and that may have been caused by one blow to the head.