Charges stayed against 1 of 6 men accused in January Manwin Hotel homicide
CBC
Charges have been stayed against a man accused of being involved in a homicide at the Manwin Hotel on Winnipeg's Main Street early this year.
Eyan Douglas Ballantyne was charged with manslaughter in the death of 40-year-old Carl George Wescoupe, whose body police said they found in a suite at the Manwin Hotel on Jan. 29.
The 33-year-old was also charged with aggravated assault. Police found Wescoupe after being directed to the hotel on Jan. 29, while they were responding to a report of a seriously injured male at a hospital.
Both charges against Ballantyne were stayed on Nov. 2, court records show.
Police said they believed Wescoupe's death was linked to another death in the area around the same time — that of Lee James Boulette, 40, who was found dead in an apartment suite a few blocks away on Selkirk Avenue on Feb. 1.
Five other people were charged in connection with the deaths of the two men.
Ernest John Young, 54, Robert Shawn Murdock, 31, Jordan Elvin McFadyen, 27, and Rory Shane Nash and Kurtis Joseph Dilallo, both 39, were all charged with first-degree murder in connection with both deaths.
The five men were also all charged with two counts each of aggravated assault after police also found Boulette's body based on a tip as they responded to another Main Street hotel, where a man went for help after being stabbed.
Ballantyne was the only one of the group to be charged in just one of the deaths.
A provincial spokesperson said in an email prosecutors determined "after a thorough review" they could only proceed against five of the six people charged.
A stay means while the charges are not formally withdrawn, they are not proceeding through court at this time. The province has a year from the date charges are stayed to reinstate them.
At this point, the evidence against Ballantyne "did not rise to the level of [prosecutors'] charging standard and therefore, the charges involving him have been stayed," the spokesperson said.
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