Woman charged in stabbings denied bail

A Birdtail Sioux First Nation woman who allegedly stabbed two people in the last three months was denied bail in Brandon provincial court on Monday.

Coraleen Bunn, 30, is charged with several offences, including two counts of aggravated assault.

The Crown opposed the accused’s released, arguing she was likely to reoffend and that her detention was necessary to maintain the public’s confidence in the administration of justice.

Crown attorney Sarah Kok read the evidence behind the charges, which have not been proven in court.

Shortly after midnight on April 30, police received two calls reporting that a woman had been stabbed in Birdtail.

Members of the Manitoba First Nations Police Service responded to the home where the alleged victim was and found a woman with two visible stab wounds, Kok said.

An ambulance transported the woman, who police believed was impaired, to Virden hospital, Kok said. In a statement to police the following day, she said Bunn and two others came to the residence and there was a “confrontation” over gossip in the community, court heard.

The woman said Bunn started coming up the stairs of the residence, so she kicked Bunn down to ensure she didn’t get inside, Kok said.

“(The accused) then got into a physical altercation with the victim, and she initially believed she was being struck but hadn’t realized she was being stabbed multiple times,” Kok said.

The woman sustained two stab wounds that were closed with a total of 28 staples, Kok said. The woman told police she was stabbed with a small pink knife, which police seized from the scene, court heard.

Police arrested Bunn outside of a Miniota hotel roughly two weeks later, after receiving a call from a woman who said she saw the accused driving in a black GMC, which she almost hit her with, Kok said. The woman believed she was impaired, she said.

Police arrested the accused, who was “highly uncooperative,” she said. Kok said they also arrested Bunn’s boyfriend, who was in the passenger seat, after he started to get aggressive with police, resulting in an officer drawing their Taser.

Five days later, Bunn was granted release on a plan that included a $500 cash deposit and conditions that prohibited her from attending Birdtail and drinking or possessing alcohol.

On June 20, MFNPS received a report that a man had been stabbed in Canupawakpa Dakota Nation.

Police found the man lying on the ground covered in blood in front of a home, Kok said. She said he had a single puncture wound in his back that was around two inches in length.

“He was bleeding profusely,” Kok said. “He made brief comments to officers on scene that his girlfriend had stabbed him at his house.”

Kok said police found a seven-inch paring knife that was allegedly used on him and later pulled out by a bystander.

While police were tending to the man’s injuries, they saw a vehicle pull into the driveway, court heard. A woman matching the man’s description of the accused got out of the front passenger side of the vehicle, and police took her into custody, the Crown said.

Officers noticed an open bottle of alcohol in her possession, Kok said.

Police spoke with two men on scene, who said they saw the man walk up to the residence with the knife sticking out of his back and that he said, “She stabbed me,” Kok said.

She said the men removed the knife and maintained pressure on the man’s back until officers came. Police also spoke with the driver of the vehicle the accused pulled up in, and he said Bunn had called him and sent him texts about needing a ride back to Birdtail.

Officers went to the residence where Bunn and her boyfriend were living and found “obvious signs of a domestic dispute,” Kok said, noting that police found broken glass and another knife.

STARS Air Ambulance flew Bunn’s boyfriend to a hospital in Winnipeg.

“He was in stable but in critical condition. They had concern that his lung had been punctured from the stab wound to his back,” Kok said. She added that the Crown didn’t know his medical condition as of Monday.

“Miss Bunn is now alleged to have stabbed two different people in the last three months,” Kok said. “She was placed on conditions by the court to try and alleviate her risk of reoffending, and she’s now alleged to have re-offended in the most substantive way — stabbing her boyfriend.”

“I don’t think any member of the public would be safe if Miss Bunn were to be released,” she said.

Defence lawyer Jennifer Janssens described the Crown’s allegations as “weak,” as there were a lot of issues with how the evidence came to police.

She said the first alleged victim gave two slightly different versions of events, in one of which she was intoxicated, Janssens said.

The woman also said her sister witnessed the stabbing, and when police contacted her, she gave “a completely different account of events” that included a different perpetrator, Janssens said.

In terms of the second alleged stabbing, Janssens said the court had no context from the alleged victim, and the scene suggested there was an altercation.

“Clearly, there’s more to what happened here than simply Miss Bunn stabbing her partner,” she said, adding that self-defence couldn’t be ruled out.

Janssens said the court had to consider that Bunn has no prior criminal record and that she has “significant” Gladue factors.

She said Bunn spent most of her childhood in foster care and was exposed to alcohol at a young age. Bunn was removed from her home community and traditional practices, she said.

Janssens presented a bail plan that included a $3,000 promise to pay, $1,500 cash deposit and a surety, who would pledge $1,500 to court. Bunn would live with her surety in a sober household, she said.

The plan included conditions that she abide by a curfew, not attend Birdtail and abstain from alcohol and drugs.

Judge Patrick Sullivan said that while the bail plan was strong, he said he did not believe Bunn was a manageable risk in the community and denied her release.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com