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Crown seeks life sentence for Mountie shooter in Brandon Correctional Centre stabbing
The Crown is asking for a life sentence for a man who stabbed another inmate at Brandon Correctional Centre just one week after he was sentenced for the attempted murder of an RCMP officer.Therae Racette-Beaulieu was sentenced to 18 years in prison for firing a shotgun at two RCMP officers, seriously wounding one of them,…
The Crown is asking for a life sentence for a man who stabbed another inmate at Brandon Correctional Centre just one week after he was sentenced for the attempted murder of an RCMP officer.
The Crown is asking for a life sentence for a man who stabbed another inmate at Brandon Correctional Centre just one week after he was sentenced for the attempted murder of an RCMP officer.
Therae Racette-Beaulieu, 21, pleaded guilty to attempted murder in Brandon provincial court on Monday — the second time he has pleaded guilty to that charge in the last 12 months.
Court was told Racette-Beaulieu and his cellmate, who he had just been paired with the day before, were on free time in the afternoon of Apr. 28, 2019.
Video from the common area of their cell block played in court showed the victim on the phone and Racette-Beaulieu talking with some other inmates through the door of their locked cell.
It then shows Racette-Beaulieu return to his cell. He re-emerges moments later and, out of nowhere, lunges toward the victim and begins to repeatedly stab him.
“He was calm, nothing seemed amiss and then it was like a switch went off when he attacked [the victim],” Crown attorney Grant Hughes said during Monday's court hearing.
The video, which was about five minutes long, shows the victim throwing a chair at Racette-Beaulieu in an effort to stop the attack before guards storm the cell block and take the victim away.
Hughes said the victim was hit at least 20 times, with one wound on his right arm that required five staples.
The weapon, Hughes said, was a piece of an aluminum mop handle, about ten centimetres long, that had been fashioned into a shank.
Racette-Beaulieu, dressed in a blue shirt, stood quietly in the prisoner's box as the video was played. It did not have audio.
“He provided an account of the incident that is almost precisely the same as what you've seen on the video,” said Hughes of Racette-Beaulieu's police statement following the incident.
“He also indicated in his statement that he would have kept going if the guards weren't there,” he said. “When asked to confirm that he was trying to kill [the victim], he replied in the affirmative and also indicated ‘but then I failed again'.”
Charges upgraded
Racette-Beaulieu was initially charged with assault causing bodily harm and assault with a weapon, but the Crown upped the charges after reviewing his statement.
“[Racette-Beaulieu] presents as calm and measured, but the content of his statement is disturbing,” said Hughes. “He laughs and jokes with police during the interview.”
Hughes pointed to Racette-Beaulieu's past in his argument for a life sentence, saying Racette-Beaulieu has an extensive history of violence and hasn't expressed empathy for his victims.
The stabbing occurred just one week after Racette-Beaulieu was sentenced to 18 years in prison after shooting a shotgun toward Cpl. Graeme Kingdon and his partner, who were attending a report of a break-in, near Onanole, Man., in August 2018.
Kingdon was seriously injured in the shooting and told court at Racette-Beaulieu's sentencing earlier this year that he still had 17 BB-sized pellets lodged in his head and neck, including one that penetrated his skull.
He was rated as a very high risk to re-offend, Hughes said.
Since he was jailed, Hughes said Racette Beaulieu has had multiple offers to join gangs at Stony Mountain Institution, where is currently staying.
“Mr. Racette-Beaulieu, for at least the second time, tried to kill another individual,” said Hughes, adding that he had been repeatedly involved in assaults and fights in the past.
Racette-Beaulieu's lawyer, Ryan Fawcett, told court that his client has a history of making bad decisions, compounded by the use of alcohol and drugs and the lack of a relationship with his father.
“This doesn't appear to be intricately planned over a length of time,” Fawcett said, of the stabbing. “It appears to be an offence of opportunity.”
“It was Mr. Racette-Beaulieu's own statement to the police that, I believe, resulted in the attempted murder charge being laid and resulted in where we are right now,” he added.
Fawcett said Racette-Beaulieu has begun taking courses while in prison and is working to obtain high school equivalency. He asked for a ten-year sentence consecutive to the 18-year term he is currently serving.
“[Racette-Beaulieu] is a very dangerous individual and separation from society is a significant consideration when determining an appropriate sentence,” said Hughes. “We are suggesting that a life sentence is the most appropriate sentence that will achieve that goal.”
Provincial court judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta reserved her decision.
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