Father pleads guilty to stabbing death of 3-year-old girl in Winnipeg
Father pleads guilty to stabbing death of 3-year-old girl in Winnipeg
Father pleads guilty to stabbing death of 3-year-old girl in Winnipeg
WINNIPEG -
A man told court Thursday he was ready to accept punishment after he pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his three-year-old daughter.
"I accept the punishment and am following the law of God," Frank Nausigimana, 29, said through an American Sign Language interpreter.
Court heard that Jemimah Bunadalian was found with two stab wounds while buckled in her car seat inside her mother's vehicle last July.
An agreed statement of facts read into court said that earlier that day Nausigimana had approached the mother's vehicle outside his daughter's daycare in Winnipeg.
It said Nausigimana had a knife, forced himself into the car and directed the mother to drive.
The woman became distraught and he told her to switch seats with him, court heard, and she used the opportunity to run away. Court heard she didn't believe Nausigimana would harm their daughter.
But Nausigimana stopped the car a short distance away and, soon after stopping, he flagged down a passing vehicle and told the driver to call 911 because he had just killed his daughter, the agreed facts said.
The child was found with stab wounds to her heart and chest.
Nausigimana was charged with first-degree murder but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge in an agreement with Crown prosecutors.
When asked if he understood his plea, Nausigimana said, "Yes, I admit I am guilty."
A sentencing hearing is scheduled for September. The minimum sentence for second-degree murder is life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 years. The Crown is requesting Nausigimana serve 19 years before he is eligible for parole and the defence wants 17 years.
An obituary for the girl said Jemimah made the most out of every second of her short life and would always say, "I love you."
Her mother was also deaf and, as a one-year-old, Jemimah learned the alphabet in sign language.
Police have said Nausigimana and the mother had not had a relationship for some time and there had been no contact for many months before the girl was killed.
Nausigimana was previously convicted of a 2017 assault against the mother when she was pregnant. Court heard that he had tried to force an abortion by making her drink a liquid mixture of salt, water and vodka against her will.
The mother was granted a protection order that same year, but not long after she requested it be revoked. She and the father went to the same church and she wanted him to be able to attend services.
Nausigimana was sentenced to one year of supervised probation for the assault.
During that hearing, court was told he came to Canada as a refugee from Burundi when he was a teen. He lost his hearing when he had meningitis as a child.
Nausigimana's mother moved to Ottawa and left him in foster care in Winnipeg. He remained in care until he was 21.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 26, 2022.
The campaign for Patrick Brown said it was consulting its legal team after the leadership election organizing committee of the federal Conservatives voted to disqualify him from the race late Tuesday.
The father of the Edmonton girl who was missing for nine days said he was getting ready to post another update on Facebook last Saturday when police knocked on his door.
An emergency resolution before the Assembly of First Nations annual meeting to reaffirm the suspension of National Chief RoseAnne Archibald has failed in Vancouver.
Two young emergency room doctors, raised and trained in Montreal, are leaving their jobs after only two years to move back to Toronto – and they say the Quebec health-care model and Bill 96 are to blame.
The Crown is seeking to revoke bail for Tamara Lich, a leader of the 'Freedom Convoy,' after she appeared alongside a fellow organizer in an alleged breach of her conditions.
A man charged Tuesday with seven counts of murder after firing off more than 70 rounds at an Independence Day parade in suburban Chicago legally bought five weapons, including the high-powered rifle used in the shooting, despite authorities being called to his home twice in 2019 for threats of violence and suicide, police said.
The Bank of Canada's strategy of rapidly increasing its key interest rate in an effort to tackle skyrocketing inflation will likely trigger a recession, says a new study released Tuesday from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
Benjamin Dufour, the seven-year-old boy who was gravely injured after being hit by a truck in Regina last month, has shown positive signs of recovery, according to a news release from his family.
Environment Canada has issued a tornado warning for the R.M. of Kindersley including Kindersley Brock and Flaxcombe, and the R.M. of Oakdale including Coleville.
Since 1996, Carla Alexiuk has been increasing the quilting population in northern Ontario by providing workshops, knowledge and her passion for the hobby.
The father of the Edmonton girl who was missing for nine days said he was getting ready to post another update on Facebook last Saturday when police knocked on his door.
A U.S. basketball commentator has found himself in the hot seat over comments he made about Toronto and its relationship with Black athletes amid rumours one of the best in the game could be headed north of the border.
As flight delays and lost luggage bring chaos to summer travel plans, Air Canada is advising travellers on how much time they should leave between connecting flights.
Two young emergency room doctors, raised and trained in Montreal, are leaving their jobs after only two years to move back to Toronto – and they say the Quebec health-care model and Bill 96 are to blame.
At least three sleepaway camps in Quebec have temporarily shut down because of COVID-19 outbreaks, according to the province's camps association (ACQ).
Two Montreal politicians and an activist group are calling on the Trudeau government to take responsibility for preserving a vast natural area leased and managed for many years by Aéroports de Montréal (ADM) amid controversy over a recently mowed field.
Sharon Lloyd has been waiting 22 days for her baggage to arrive after being lost on a direct flight form Ottawa to Toronto. Gatineau, Qc.. Jul. 5, 2022. (Tyler Fleming / CTV News).
Ottawa Public Health is reporting six new COVID-19 deaths in the city in the last week, bringing the city’s death toll from the pandemic to 825 residents.
As police try to track down the man believed to have paved a Puslinch woman’s driveway without her permission, another person has come forward claiming to be the victim of a similar alleged fraud.
A string of serious collisions over the last few days has Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) sending a heightened warning to drivers to not let their guards down during the summer months.
There were no ambulances available to respond to emergencies in Guelph for a short period on Monday, as paramedics waited outside the hospital to offload patients.
A high school friend of B.C. teen Amanda Todd has testified he took action when he saw what he described as a “pornographic” picture of her on Facebook in November 2011.
The long-awaited Vancouver Plan is set to go before council on Wednesday after almost four years of work – and Mayor Kennedy Stewart is adding a last-minute amendment.
Chiefs representing Indigenous communities from coast to coast have descended on Vancouver for the Assembly of First Nations General Assembly — with several resolutions on the agenda that could determine the political fate of their elected leader.
Two Saanich, B.C., police officers remain in hospital Tuesday, including one in intensive care, a week after six officers were injured and two suspects were killed in a brazen bank robbery and gunfight near Victoria.
