Woman accused of manslaughter granted bail for second time

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This article was published 01/11/2023 (1050 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In a decision a judge described as made by the “narrowest margin,” a woman charged in the stabbing death of a 23-year-old man in Waywayseecappo First Nation earlier this year, was granted a second chance at bail.

At a bail hearing in provincial court on Tuesday, Judge Patrick Sullivan granted Talisa Brandon, 25, bail to live at a house in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation while her charges work their way through the court system.

This was Brandon’s second successful bid for bail — Judge Hewitt-Michta granted her release in late July. However, shortly after her release, Brandon was arrested for allegedly breaching a release condition. The new charge allowed her to make another bail application.

In addition to the charges of manslaughter for the stabbing death of Tristin Beaulieu and aggravated assault against another man, she is now facing a charge for breaching a court-ordered release condition.

In response to Brandon’s application for bail earlier this summer, the Crown opposed her release on tertiary grounds, where an accused person’s detention in jail is necessary to maintain confidence in the administration of justice.

On Tuesday in court, Crown attorney Caroline Lacey again argued that bail should be denied on tertiary grounds.

Lacey also read the charges against Brandon in court. The charges have not been proven in court and Brandon remains innocent until proven guilty.

On July 5, 2023, 10 or more people were drinking at a house party in Waywayseecappo. When the party became rowdy, the homeowner asked partygoers to leave.

The party then continued at Beaulieu’s home, where drinking continued, and reportedly cocaine was used.

A fight between several people began, which spilled out onto the lawn.

At one point, a woman grabbed a knife, allegedly intending to stab Beaulieu, but it was taken away from her.

When the woman tried to leave with her three-year-old child, her partner and another woman, Beaulieu and another man reportedly pursued them, armed with weapons.

The woman then kicked in the door at the home of another man who was attending the party and grabbed two knives. Once she returned outside, the woman noticed her partner swinging a rake at Beaulieu and she stabbed Beaulieu twice — once in the chest and once in the back.

The woman then noticed that the other man had pushed the other woman, who was carrying her three-year old child, to the ground, so she stabbed that man multiple times.

When police arrived on scene, they found Beaulieu alive and lying bleeding on the road. Emergency services arrived at 12:07 a.m. on July 6 and at 12:13 a.m., Beaulieu was pronounced dead.

The woman accused of stabbing Beaulieu is also charged with aggravated assault for allegedly stabbing the second man who had pursued her following the party.

Lacey emphasized the seriousness of the charges and argued that the evidence that Brandon left the fracas twice to go get knives weakened her claim of self-defence.

“From the Crown’s perspective, these are two of the most serious offences that exist in the Criminal Code,” Lacey said.

The Crown attorney raised concern with Brandon’s likelihood to re-offend, as the 25-year-old was arrested after being found in Sioux Valley Dakota Nation less than a week after she was released on bail to live at an address in Brandon.

Brandon’s defence lawyer, Adam Hodge, argued that his client has a strong self-defence argument for that July night and told the court that Brandon had made attempts to reach her lawyer about moving from her court-ordered Brandon address.

“I would submit that the breach itself is tempered fairly significantly,” the defence lawyer said.

Hodge presented a bail plan that would have Brandon living at a residence in Sioux Valley and putting up a small cash deposit for bail.

Sullivan expressed his concern with how quickly Brandon was arrested for a breach after her release as well as the seriousness of her other pending charges, but agreed with the defence that Brandon’s efforts to reach out to her lawyer made the breach less serious.

Ultimately, the judge granted Brandon’s release to live in Sioux Valley and gave her a stern reminder about following court-ordered conditions.

“You have to recognize that you’re on, I’ll call it, thin ice,” Sullivan said.

Brandon’s matters will next appear before the court on Nov. 16.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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