Man gets probation for threatening ex-partner

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This article was published 09/06/2023 (1008 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A 36-year-old man was sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation Thursday after he admitted to sending a threatening message to the mother of his children during a heated custody dispute.

This incident occurred Dec. 17, 2021, when Traverse Flette was put in charge of looking after his two children in Brandon while his ex-partner went out with some friends.

Even though his ex-partner had been awarded sole custody of the children back in 2017, Flette decided to remove his children from the residence without her permission and refused to disclose their location afterwards.

According to Crown prosecutor Yaso Mathu, Flette then sent threatening, profanity-laced text messages to his ex-partner explaining that he had taken the kids for their own protection.

“Get your f—ng a– home now. I’m going to beat you. I’m leaving you,” Mathu said, reading Flette’s texts aloud in court.

“You won’t see your kids or talk to them until you get into treatment and get help for your drinking, and drugs and sex.”

Mathu went on to reveal how Flette also described his ex-partner as a “slut” and “meth head” within these text messages.

After Flette’s ex-partner informed Child and Family Services (CFS) about this situation, police officially became involved on Dec. 21 and conducted a search of his home community of Keeseekoowenin Ojibway First Nation to try to locate the children.

The next day, Flette contacted Brandon Police Service from nearby Elphinstone and said he would turn himself in and return his kids to the proper authorities.

He was released from custody Dec. 23 under conditions that he cannot be in contact with his children or his ex-partner under any circumstances.

However, police caught Flette in the company of his ex on March 29 around 2:12 a.m. in downtown Brandon, with the pair being engaged in a verbal argument in the 600 block of Ninth Street.

Flette ran toward Real Canadian Superstore, but police eventually caught up and arrested him for violating the conditions of his release.

During Thursday’s sentencing in court, Flette appeared in person to accept responsibility for uttering threats and breaching his release conditions, although he told Judge Donovan Dvorak that his behaviour on Dec. 17, 2021 was primarily motivated by a desire to protect his kids from their mother’s neglectful care.

“At the time, when I took my children, there was a lot of drinking going on and drugs and [her] leaving us and I was fed up with it,” he said.

While Dvorak appeared sympathetic to Flette’s reasoning, he reminded the 36-year-old that he should have brought this matter before family court and settled everything through the proper channels.

However, defence lawyer Andrew Synyshyn reminded the presiding judge that his client’s wariness to engage with the child-welfare system is understandable given the strained relationship between Indigenous communities and groups like CFS, who have been accused of taking children out of First Nations homes and into government custody with dubious justification.

With this history in mind, Dvorak ruled that Flette will be able to visit with his children throughout the next 18 months under specific circumstances, knowing that his ex-partner is open to reconciling and working toward building a functional family unit.

“Ensuring that a father and a mother both have a role in their children’s upbringing is ultimately the goal,” the judge said. “And I’m not sure that me ordering no contact or communication would be of any assistance to that.”

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

» Twitter: @KyleDarbyson