Bail granted after man admits he stabbed grandparents

A Canupawakpa Dakota Nation man was granted bail after pleading guilty to stabbing his grandparents in 2023.

Tehinda Elk, 22, pleaded guilty to two counts of aggravated assault in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Friday.

Following his guilty plea, the Crown consented to Elk’s release from custody, and Justice Elliot Leven granted Elk’s release on a bail plan that included a $5,000 promise to pay and a $5,000 cash deposit.

Elk will return for sentencing at a later date, after the completion of a court-ordered pre-sentence report.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read an agreed statement of facts.

Virden RCMP received a report of a stabbing in progress in the town just before 8 p.m. on April 28, 2023.

When officers arrived, they found Elk sitting in a vehicle in front of the property with his mother, who told police Elk had stabbed people.

Elk’s sister came out of the house and told Mounties Elk had stabbed two people inside and they needed medical attention. RCMP found a man and woman “covered in blood” inside.

The woman had a “large amount” of blood coming from a stab wound on the side of her torso, and the man had several lacerations. Both were transported to the hospital in Virden before being moved to Brandon for assessments by a surgical team.

The woman gave a statement to police and confirmed that her grandson, Elk, and her husband had started fighting inside the home, and she initially didn’t realize Elk had a weapon.

“(She) didn’t realize that she’d been stabbed by the accused until EMS and RCMP arrived on scene,” Kok said.

She sustained two stab wounds to the left side of her body, a two-centimetre stab wound to the left side of her chest and a five-centimetre-long, two-centimetre-deep stab wound into her armpit.

The grandfather told police the accused rushed at him and his wife and started assaulting him. He didn’t see a knife in his hand.

“(He) states that he was trying to block the accused from assaulting his wife … and that his arm got slashed in the process,” the Crown said.

Medical reports showed he sustained multiple stab wounds, including a three-centimetre-deep stab wound to his upper chest, which Kok said caused a two-and-a-half-centimetre pulmonary laceration and fracture to one of his ribs.

Another two-centimetre-deep stab wound to his lower chest caused a linear laceration to his liver. He stayed in the hospital for several days.

The next day, Elk confessed to stabbing his grandparents to police and said he was under the influence of alcohol and “blacked out.”

“The accused admits he was chasing after his grandparents, holding a knife … He followed his grandparents into the bedroom and stabbed them several times before he noticed the amount of blood and left the residence to sit outside,” Kok said.

“He states that he had no intention of killing his grandparents, but was fearful that he had killed them.”

» sanderson@brandonsun.com