Judge orders mental health assessment for man accused of killing 5 family members in southern Manitoba
CBC
A judge has approved a request for a mental health assessment of a man accused of killing his common-law partner, their three children and her cousin in southern Manitoba earlier this month.
Ryan Manoakeesick appeared in court via video conference on Monday. Lawyer Morgan Lawrence requested a mental health assessment to determine whether the 29-year-old is fit to stand trial.
Lawrence said the defence team could not divulge details, but in speaking with Manoakeesick over the two weeks that he has been in custody, they "have concerns."
Provincial court Judge Donald R. Slough approved the request for an assessment sometime in the next month.
Manoakeesick is charged with five counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his common-law partner, Amanda Clearwater, 30, their three children — Bethany, 6, Jayven, 4, and two-month-old Isabella — and Clearwater's cousin Myah Gratton, 17.
They were found dead at three different sites in the Carman area on Sunday, Feb. 11.
Clearwater was found in a ditch just off a highway that morning. The children's bodies were pulled from a burning vehicle 70 kilometres north of Carman a couple of hours later.
Gratton's body was found later the same day in the home where she lived with Clearwater and Manokeesick, police previously said.
RCMP investigators have described the deaths as intimate partner violence.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
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