Woman accused in stabbing death denied fifth bid for bail

A woman charged in the stabbing death of a 23-year-old man in Waywayseecappo First Nation in 2023 has been denied bail.

Talisa Brandon, 27, made her fifth application for bail in Brandon provincial court on Friday.

Associate Chief Judge Geoffrey Bayly denied her release on the tertiary grounds, meaning he believed Brandon’s detention was necessary to maintain the public’s confidence in the administration of justice.

Brandon is charged with manslaughter, aggravated assault and several counts of breaching her release order. The Crown opposed Brandon’s bail on the tertiary grounds.

Crown attorney Melania Cannon detailed the allegations, which haven’t been proven in court.

On July 5, 2023, Brandon was at a house party in Waywayseecappo with 10 or more people, including the deceased, Tristin Beaulieu. When the party started to get “rowdy,” the homeowner asked everyone to leave.

Brandon, along with a few others, went to a different home, where the group continued to party. Several of the partygoers got into a fight, which spilled onto the lawn.

“The versions of that altercation are wildly different, depending on which person is telling them, but ultimately results on the road … people are armed with various implements,” Cannon said.

Brandon left the scene, went to another residence, and allegedly grabbed two knives.

The accused returned and allegedly stabbed Beaulieu and another man multiple times each before leaving the scene.

When police arrived at around 11:15 p.m., Beaulieu was still alive. He was pronounced dead at around 12:15 a.m.

Police found Brandon and her partner in the yard of her home and arrested her.

On July 28, 2023, after a contested bail hearing, Brandon was released from custody on conditions, including an 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.

A warrant issued for Brandon’s arrest less than a month later, when police did a curfew check and she wasn’t home. A few days later, she was found and arrested in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation.

Brandon made another contested application for bail in October 2023 and was released.

“(The judge) said it was by the narrowest of margins that she was being released,” Cannon said.

One of her release conditions was to reside at a certain address. On July 31, 2024, police did another curfew check, and Brandon wasn’t home. A warrant was issued for her arrest.

Cannon said the apparent breach was the result of an “administrative slip,” as Brandon had gone through the right steps to get her address changed on her release order.

The Crown consented to the address change, as Brandon said she was in an abusive relationship, but the variation was never made, and Brandon was arrested, Cannon said.

The Crown stayed the breach charge because of the circumstances and she was released with a condition to reside at a women’s shelter in Brandon under a curfew.

On Nov. 29, 2024, an A&W employee called police and said a “woman had taken refuge in their restaurant because a group of men were following her,” Cannon said, adding it happened around 11:45 p.m. — during Brandon’s curfew hours.

The Crown did not proceed with charges again and consented to her release in December 2024 on mostly the same conditions.

Brandon’s previous lawyer lost contact with her, and a warrant for her arrest was issued for failing to comply with her curfew after police did a curfew check in August 2025, and she wasn’t there.

Her warrant remained outstanding until Wednesday, when police found Brandon in Sioux Valley.

When police asked for her name, she allegedly gave another person’s name. Cannon said Brandon was taken into custody and still wouldn’t admit who she was.

Police compared her tattoos to photos they had and confirmed her identity.

“She’s gotten second chances, and she, I would submit, knew very well … she had an obligation, if she wanted to remain in the community, to change where she was living through the appropriate channels.”

Cannon said Brandon may have a self-defence argument at trial, but “the step of leaving to obtain knives and then returning to stab two men multiple times … creates a strong case for manslaughter and the aggravated assault.”

She said the charges are two of the most serious ones that exist.

“We must consider how a reasonable member of society would react to Ms. Brandon’s release for the fifth time into the community.”

Defence lawyer Jonathan Richert proposed a bail plan that included a $500 cash deposit, a named surety of $1,000 and a condition that Brandon would reside at a residence in Elphinstone with her current boyfriend and his father under a 24-hour curfew.

Richert said Brandon had difficulty following her previous release conditions because of an instability in housing.

“She feels she’s currently in a relationship with somebody with whom she feels safe, who she considers to be a responsible person, and in a home where the focus is caring for family members, rather than getting involved in partying or other circumstances,” Richert said.

While $500 may not seem like a substantial amount of money, Richert said she’s not a “wealthy person,” and the court should look at it in proportion to her circumstances.

Richert said, looking at Brandon, she has a “slight physical stature,” and the court could assume the surviving complainant was a “more imposing individual.”

She alleged Beaulieu had choked her ex-boyfriend and said the surviving complainant, while attempting to hit another woman, accidentally hit a three-year-old child that was present, Richert said.

He said Brandon “alleged that they tried to remove themselves from the situation, but they were being chased” by the two men, who had a “large knife or machete” and a golf club.

Bayly said it’s concerning Brandon had a warrant out for her arrest for around five months, and when she did get arrested, she gave police a fake name.

“These facts substantially aggravate the tertiary ground concern, because they would be understood by a reasonable member of the public as showing a willingness to disregard court-ordered conditions and evade the court process while charged with extremely serious offences.”

Brandon is scheduled to stand trial in front of a judge and jury in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench from March 23 to April 2.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com