Man charged in violent attack denied bail

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This article was published 27/02/2024 (694 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A man who pleaded guilty to an attack on his partner that a judge described as an incident of “stunning violence,” and who now wishes to withdraw his guilty plea, will remain behind bars.

Wayne William Joseph Becks, 40, entered guilty pleas to charges of assault and assault causing bodily harm last October. He was scheduled to be sentenced on Jan. 23, but his lawyer withdrew, leaving the matter in limbo.

He made an unsuccessful bid for bail in court on Monday.

Crown attorney Reid Girard opposed Becks’ release, citing his risk to re-offend and his ability to come to court. He read the agreed statement of facts of the incident in court.

In November 2022, Yellowhead RCMP were called to a home by a 14-year-old girl who told police that her mother was injured and needed emergency assistance. The prosecutor declined to name the community where the assault occurred to not identify the victims.

When police arrived, both the girl and her mother, whose face was covered in blood with cuts and bruises, were taken to Minnedosa and District Hospital.

There, the woman gave a statement to police about a violent attack by Becks after both had been drinking and using marijuana.

The woman said Becks began to pick a fight with her that became violent. He grabbed two knives — a silver pocketknife and a black, machete-style knife — and tried to cut her. He then kicked and punched her, hit her with a TV and a wooden shelf.

The woman managed to grab the machete knife from Becks and throw it under the bed. Her 14-year-old daughter heard her mother’s cries and grabbed a knife from the kitchen. Holding the knife, the girl told Becks to stop, but instead Becks started attacking her.

Becks held the girl down, choking her and threatened her with a knife. He then slammed the girl against a shelf. The girl managed to get out of the house and run to a neighbour’s home, where she called 911.

Meanwhile, Becks continued to attack the woman as she tried to hold a door shut between them. Becks repeatedly punched and kicked the door, eventually breaking through it. When Becks said he was going to get a gun, the woman managed to escape, fleeing barefoot through the snow to her neighbour’s house.

The woman was examined at the hospital and suffered extensive bruising and cuts, chipped teeth, a concussion and required 10 stitches to her forehead.

Girard called the incident a “violent, cruel, domestic assault, where not only did he viciously attack his domestic partner, but also her very young daughter, who intervened to try to save her mother’s life.”

He added: “It’s chilling to think of how far this incident could have escalated should they have not managed to escape that night.”

The Crown attorney told the court that Becks presented a significant safety risk to the victims.

Legal aid defence lawyer Philip Sieklicki, who was assisting Becks, told the court that Becks is planning to apply to withdraw his guilty pleas, as he had felt pressured to plead guilty to the offences last year. The defence lawyer said Becks also believed he was a victim during the attack, claiming he had been stabbed in the hand.

Sieklicki said the process for withdrawing guilty pleas would take some time, so that if Beck was denied bail, he would be spending a lot more time in jail.

He presented a bail plan that would have Becks living at a home in Gilbert Plains.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta, who was provided with photos of the woman’s injuries and the blood splatter at the scene of the attack, said the charges were very serious.

“It’s an incident of stunning violence, protracted in nature, bladed weapons involved, the partner suffered significant observable injuries,” the judge said, adding that the photographs seemed to corroborate the allegations.

When Becks entered his guilty pleas, she said, he did so with the assistance of a lawyer, adding that there did not appear to be any strong basis for an application to withdraw his guilty pleas.

The judge agreed with the Crown that Becks poses a significant threat to the victims of the attack and ultimately denied him bail.

His matter will next appear in Minnedosa court on March 5.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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