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Members of the RCMP tactical unit leave the scene of Karen Lander's shooting death in March 2012. In his 33 years, cousin David Maniyogina has been through multiple traumatic events, including being inside the house at the time of Lander's death. - NNSL file photo |
'There are times when I can explode' Yellowknife man tells harrowing tale of losing two brothers
and being in the home with his cousin Karen Lander before she was shot by police
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Wednesday, September 11, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Sexual and physical abuse, the tragic and violent death of two brothers and a cousin killed by RCMP have all contributed to the trauma that led one Yellowknife man to a life of crime.
David Maniyogina has been in and out of prison since he turned 18 and it hasn't helped him turn his life around.
Now 33, Maniyogina is going to jail again, this time for theft and breaching court orders.
"It is unfortunate that the Crown has few options other than to imprison Mr. Maniyogina," said prosecutor Kelly Onyskevitch last Wednesday during his submissions. He was arguing Maniyogina should spend five to eight months in jail.
Onyskevitch counted 63 prior convictions on Maniyogina's criminal record.
His five most recent, while relatively minor offences, will net Maniyogina 65 days in jail, ,plus two years of probation.
Maniyogina, in shackles and escorted by two RCMP officers, appeared before Judge Bernadette Schmaltz last Thursday to receive his sentence.
According to Peter Harte, Maniyogina's defence lawyer, his client had a violent incident in Yellowknife cells the night before which required him to have the extra security. Normally, an accused is allowed to sit beside his lawyer and be free of restraints in territorial court.
The day before, Maniyogina not only sat beside his lawyer without shackles, he took the stand on his own behalf.
Harte met with Maniyogina before his sentencing and discovered certain things in his past were so traumatizing, so horrifying, that only he could speak to them.
"He's not been able to talk about his problems before in court," Harte said Wednesday.
Maniyogina, dressed in a grey tank top and baggy black pants, swore on the Bible and took the stand Wednesday. His ropey muscles and weathered face seemed to tense, sensing how difficult his coming testimony would be.
Harte asked Maniyogina where he was born and where he grew up. Almost immediately, as if his emotions had been dammed up behind those two questions, Maniyogina burst into sobs.
Born in Yellowknife, Maniyogina grew up in Cambridge Bay. Between deep breaths, he said his sister was taken away from his parents by social services at an early age.
Harte asked his client why his sister was taken away.
"Because my parents chose drugs and alcohol. They were drug dealers and bootleggers," Maniyogina answered.
At his parents' home in Cambridge Bay, there was a constant flow of adults abusing alcohol and drugs. The people Maniyogina's parents invited inside their home abused the young boy.
"I was beaten up by different people, sexually assaulted, touched in my private parts," Maniyogina said with his chin near his chest.
By age seven, he was taken from his parents to live in a group home, but the move ended up landing Maniyogina in a whole new realm of trauma.
At age 10, still in the community of Cambridge Bay, Maniyogina watched two of his brothers die. They were in a shack together, sniffing propane.
Harte asked his client what happened that day.
Straining to reply, Maniyogina blurted his answer between sobs.
"Someone lit a cigarette and we blew up."
"I lost two of my brothers."
Maniyogina was moved around different communities after the explosion. He eventually settled in Yellowknife at age 18. He said he needed to move away from Cambridge Bay so he wouldn't see his parents ever again.
"I needed to get away from the hurt and pain they caused me in my younger years."
But Maniyogina couldn't escape the pain. He turned to alcohol and marijuana to numb the memories.
"I wanted to hide the pain and hurt. I didn't know how to ask for help," Maniyogina testified.
The foulness of Maniyogina's past, combined with his drug and alcohol problems, manifested themselves in a life of crime. Unable to control his emotions, Maniyogina's anger began to take over.
"There are times when I can explode into a different person ... an angry person," he said.
"I'll hurt people. I'll hurt myself."
When asked by Harte why he'd want to hurt himself, Maniyogina explains he has a connection to Karen Lander.
Lander, 42, was shot and killed by RCMP on March 14, 2012. Officers fired at her when she ran out of her home brandishing a rifle.
"She's my cousin," Maniyogina said, "I was in the house."
Harte said his client has never spoken about the incident on the record before last Wednesday.
"I didn't know she was being suicidal that day."
Maniyogina said he was drinking heavily with Lander until he passed out. He doesn't remember her getting up to leave with the rifle.
"The next thing I know, I was being woken up by RCMP because she was shot," Maniyogina said, sobbing.
"Would that have happened if you hadn't passed out?" Harte asked him.
"No," Maniyogina replied with his head bowed.
A-year-and-a-half after Lander's death, Maniyogina was convicted last Wednesday after pleading guilty to two counts of theft and three breaches against the administration of justice.
On June 16, Maniyogina walked into the Stanton Territorial Hospital and stole a large bottle of hand sanitizer. He said the cleaner wasn't for him, but for a friend.
On Aug. 2, Maniyogina walked into the downtown liquor store and stole a 26 oz. bottle of Bacardi 151. He was arrested later that day, intoxicated.
RCMP reported the stolen bottle wasn't recovered.
Maniyogina's other recent convictions relate to him breaching his probation conditions by drinking and going into a liquor establishment.
Onyskevitch said placing Maniyogina on probation at this point in his criminal career is ineffective.
"To place him on probation is simply to invite him back into court," Onyskevitch said, pointing to the likelihood that Maniyogina would breach his probation.
But Maniyogina says he's ready to change. He recently found out his girlfriend is pregnant.
"I said to her, 'Look, I want to change myself right now'," Maniyogina testified. "I want that child to grow up in a stable home."
Onyskevitch cross-examined Maniyogina, questioning why he was still committing offences, such as stealing liquor, after he found out his girlfriend was pregnant.
"I've been a bad person since I turned 18," Maniyogina offered as an explanation.
Harte suggested a 90-day jail sentence for Maniyogina, or enough time for him to take part in healing programs offered at North Slave Correctional Centre (NSCC).
"It's only by trying to fix David that we're going to get him out of the system," Harte said.
Judge Schmaltz looked down and rubbed her forehead after listening to Maniyogina and the two lawyers' submissions on Wednesday.
"I'm going to reserve my decision on this until Thursday afternoon," she said.
Before Schmaltz made her decision on Maniyogina's fate on Thursday, she asked him if he had anything else to say.
Behind a thick wall of glass in the courtroom, seated and shackled, watched by two RCMP officers, Maniyogina had only this to say:
"I feel remorse for what I've done. I apologize for taking up the court's time."
Schmaltz asked Maniyogina when his child would be due.
"The child is due January or February of next year," Maniyogina replied.
Pausing for a minute after hearing this, Schmaltz explained Maniyogina would face a 65-day jail sentence, plus a two year probation order dating from July 2012.
Maniyogina will be out of jail in time to see his child's birth. He'll also have employment, promised to him by Wade Friesen, a former NSCC guard who dealt with Maniyogina in prison and now runs a construction company.
In the meantime, Maniyogina will likely be held in segregation from other prisoners at NSCC because of his violent outbursts.
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