Victim of Sherbrook Street homicide was 'bound, beaten and discarded,' court hears

Trenten Jeffrey Balonyk was found dead under a mattress in a known drug house in Winnipeg after he was bound with duct tape and beaten to death, Crown prosecutors told a jury during the first day of trial for three men accused in his death.

Balonyk, 38, was found dead on Jan. 19, 2017, inside a home on Sherbrook Street.

Brendan Bo Severight, 27, Luke Blair Moar, 34, and Ryan Ralph Flett, 28, are on trial in Court of Queen's Bench in Winnipeg in his killing.

In the Crown's opening statement, prosecutor Monique Cam said the home Balonyk was found in was a "trap house," or drug house, run by Severight where methamphetamine was sold. Moar worked for Severight, while Flett frequented the house, Cam told the jury.

Cam argued that Balonyk was killed by the three men on Jan. 17, after he went to the house and an argument broke out. He was bound with duct tape and an electrical cord, and beaten unconscious with a baseball bat, she said.

Cam said Balonyk was essentially "bound, beaten and discarded" by the three men, noting that police found the victim under a mattress in the house two days after he was killed. 

While Cam read out her opening statement, a woman in the gallery with short, grey hair hunched over her walker and wept, while a man sitting next to her comforted her.

Police raided house after informants' tips 

In the afternoon, Sgt. Dean Lambert with the Winnipeg Police Service tactical support unit testified that police became involved after two confidential informants told an officer that there was possibly someone injured or dead in the Sherbrook residence.

The tactical support unit became involved because police also had information that methamphetamine was being sold out of the house, and that there were shotguns inside, he told the court.

Police raided the home on Jan. 19. Lambert said the victim was pronounced dead by paramedics shortly after police gained entry.

The trial continues Tuesday.

Cam is representing the Crown with prosecutor Daniel Chaput. Severight is being represented by defence lawyer Matthew Gould with Zach Kinahan. Flett is being represented by Tara Walker and Andrew McKelvey-Gunson, while Moar's defence lawyers are Bruce Bonney and Nicole Beasse.