Homicide victim remembered as ‘gentle’ and ‘sweet’ man

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This article was published 18/11/2023 (1037 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Eric Lepine would walk across the city carrying jugs of water to help his former girlfriend when her house had no running water. He also gave his last $50 to buy her and her new partner a meal.

That was the kind of generosity that friends and family remember about Lepine, who died in Health Sciences Centre on Wednesday evening after he was violently attacked with a hammer and left in a burning house in Brandon earlier this week.

The 28-year-old loved family and was a proud father who would bring teddy bears to his five-year-old son Jaxx, Lepine’s former girlfriend, Destiny Cathcart, told the Sun.

“He loves his kids … he loves his family,” Cathcart said. “He would do anything for anybody, like take the shirt off his back for someone.”

Cathcart and Lepine dated for four years, and she said she remembers the good times that they spent together playing video games and jokingly bugging each other. Cathcart even got Lepine’s name tattooed on her arm, which she thought of as she held Lepine’s hand when he was taken off life support on Wednesday.

“He’s always going to be with me because he’s on my arm,” Cathcart said.

Even though Cathcart and Lepine were no longer together as a couple, Lepine told her that she was family and always kept a collegial relationship with her for the benefit of the son they shared together.

“I just miss seeing his face and knowing that he’s around because now he’s not around and I wish that he was,” Cathcart said. “I didn’t realize how much it would affect me that he’s not in this world.”

Lepine’s presence is also missed by Solange Machado, a network co-ordinator at Manitoba Harm Reduction Network in Brandon, where Lepine volunteered with the peer advisory group. She said she will miss Lepine’s routine of coming into her office almost every day and asking her how her day was going and grabbing a snack.

“He just had that calming presence, even if he was just sitting here not saying anything,” Machado told the Sun. “It was just comforting to have him around and have him here.”

Machado and Cathcart both spoke about how much effort Lepine put into his work as part of peer groups with both the MHRN and the Sexuality Education Resource Centre. Lepine was part of the network’s first peer advisory group meeting and remained a loyal member for four years.

“He always showed up, whether he was having a good day [or] a bad day — he always showed up,” Machado said. “Which showed me that he really valued what we did.”

Lepine, who grew up in Brandon, was always willing to share his experience, which included substance use and homelessness, with others to help them, Machado said.

“He knew what a lot of the people we work with are going through, because he was experiencing it firsthand himself,” she said. “He knew what it was like to experience addictions, to experience homelessness, to experience the violence and everything that can happen living vicariously.”

She said that he did a lot of overdose prevention and Naloxone training with people who live downtown. Lepine, Machado said, was an expert in teaching others how to prevent an overdose and how to use Naloxone.

“He’s probably trained like half of Brandon [on how] to use Naloxone,” Machado said. “And he’s reversed many overdoses [himself] just living downtown.”

That’s part of the shock of Lepine’s death for Cathcart as well. She said he had been in the hospital before, including surviving an overdose.

“He’s made it out every time, so I think a lot of us were thinking it would be the same, that he would be back home to us,” Machado said. “It was very shocking — it all just happened so fast.”

Machado and Cathcart said that they believe that Lepine was just hanging out with friends and was in the wrong place at the wrong time when he was violently attacked with a hammer last Sunday afternoon. When Brandon emergency crews pulled Lepine from a house that had been intentionally set of fire, he had severe injuries from multiple hammer strikes to his head. He was airlifted to HSC in Winnipeg.

Machado recalled that Lepine talked about wanting to have a full-time job at either the MHRN or SERC, where he could keep giving back to the community and helping others. He also wanted to see a community that didn’t stigmatize people for using substances and championed the need for more housing, citing his own experiences struggling to get an apartment based on his appearance, Machado said.

“Eric would talk about ending the stigma and seeing a place or a city where everyone supported and loved each other and where you didn’t have to feel scared to go into a place for help because you’re scared that you’re going to be treated differently if they saw how you looked or if you disclose that you use drugs,” she said.

Lepine’s family and friends are left shocked and wondering why something so violent happened to him, Machado and Cathcart said.

“All of his friends are saying, and the peers, they’re all saying, why did this happen? What was the motivation behind it?” Machado said. “He was so gentle. He was so sweet.”

While those who knew Lepine are still reeling from his shocking and violent death, it will take time for them to heal from the loss of a man with a big heart and affinity for Pepsi-flavoured ice cream drinks at Circle K.

And though the loss of Lepine’s contribution to the community will also be felt, he will not be forgotten, especially at the MHRN’s monthly peer meetings.

“From now on, we’ll be leaving a chair empty,” Machado said. “So that Eric is still part of our meetings, even though he’s not physically here with us.”

Ryan Mecas, 32, is facing a second-degree murder charge for the killing of Lepine. During the attack on Lepine, a 60-year-old man was also struck with a hammer, though he suffered minor injuries. Mecas is also facing charges of aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, and arson with disregard for human life. Mecas’s matter will next appear in court on Nov. 23.

Police say that the accused and the victims were known to each other, though Machado and Cathcart said they weren’t aware of any connection between Lepine and Mecas.

Lepine’s killing is the sixth homicide in Brandon this year.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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