Sentencing hearing set in manslaughter case

A sentencing hearing has been set for a 39-year-old man who killed his sister’s common-law spouse in 2015.

The lawyer for Stacey Charles Wahpistikwan told a Lethbridge judge Thursday the hearing has been scheduled for June 29 in Taber provincial court.

Although the Crown and defence are expected to provide sentencing arguments that day, actual sentencing will likely be adjourned to another day to allow the judge time to consider counsel recommendations.

Wahpistikwan was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 36-year-old Silas Kiseyinewakup Sept. 22, 2015, but on Jan. 27 of this year he pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Court was told during the hearing in January that Wahpistikwan was drinking with Kiseyinewakup and Jolene Wahpistikwan in a trailer on a farm near Taber. When Kiseyinewakup assaulted his spouse — Wahpistikwan’s sister — during an argument, the accused intervened and the two men stepped outside where they pushed and shoved each other.

The two men got into a second fight later in the night, and the next morning Kiseyinewakup’s body was found submerged in water in an irrigation culvert.

Stacey’s wet and blood-soaked clothes were found in his duffle bag inside the trailer, and an RCMP lab determined the blood was from Kiseyinewakup.

An autopsy revealed Kiseyinewakup died of a stab wound to the left side of his chest, which pierced his heart, but he was also stabbed in the left shoulder, the right side of his chest, left bicep and a finger on his right hand.

Police recovered the knife with Silas’ blood on it inside a burning barrel on the farm.

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