Man acquitted of manslaughter in North End slaying due to unreliable evidence: court decision

A judge has acquitted a Winnipeg man accused of manslaughter in a fatal shooting at a North End apartment, citing unreliable evidence and inconsistent witness testimony.

"I will never know the truth," said Judge Sheldon W. Lanchbery.

Angus John Maple was 40 years old when he was gunned down on the evening of Nov. 24, 2021. The killing happened in his apartment, where he sold and traded drugs and stolen merchandise, by two men who intended to rob him, according to a written decision from the Court of King's Bench.

Timothy Wilfred Christopher Lecoy Maple, 33 years old at the time he was charged, walked free last month. He was originally charged with second-degree murder after Maple was brought to hospital with a gunshot wound from Mountain Avenue, between Salter and Main streets, where he later died.

His co-accused Thunder Lightning Fontaine, who was 22 years old when charged in Maple's death, will serve 12 years in prison after his 2023 manslaughter conviction by a judge.

'Silent witnesses defeated' 

The decision published on Feb. 12 says the deceased's roommate was Chelsea Paul, a leading witness in the case and the mother of Fontaine's children, who lived with Maple to help him to monitor his diabetes and cancer diagnosis and ensure he took his medications.

The night of Maple's death, footage from a camera installed inside the apartment pictured Fontaine carrying a gun inside the apartment, followed by Lecoy Maple, who was carrying a shopping bag.

While speaking to Fontaine, Paul is pictured walking toward a camera, called a Wyze Cam, and twisting the video camera "flat against a solid object" before the shooting.

"Chelsea spoke as she moved towards the Wyze Cam, 'oops, my bad.' Her words were spoken in a very casual manner bordering on a joke," said Lanchbery.

Around one hour later, a gunshot sound was captured on the interior camera which still could record audio despite the obscured vision on the video footage.

Paul testified that after the shooting, she took the deceased's cellphone, which had access to a video from a doorbell camera installed in the suite across the hall, and the doorbell camera installed in the other suite.

Lanchbery said Paul's actions to "defeat two silent witnesses" by concealing video evidence along with a "demonstrated inability to firmly identify people" in the suite at the time of the shooting made her an unreliable witness.

Paul was also interviewed by officers several times, but there were inconsistencies in the three statements she provided to police, the decision said

The cellphone and doorbell video footage and doorbell camera were never found, court heard.

"Without having access to the video evidence Chelsea prevented the court from viewing, I am left with reasonable doubt that [Lecoy] Maple was even present at the time of the shooting," said Lanchbery.

"Therefore, the Crown's case results in the Crown failing to prove beyond a reasonable doubt [Lecoy] Maple acted in a common purpose with Thunder to commit robbery," Lanchbery said.

"I acquit Timothy Wilfred Christopher Lecoy Maple of the offence of manslaughter in the death of Angus John Maple."