'She's gone. I drowned her': Shamattawa man convicted of murdering partner, who was found in river

A Shamattawa man is guilty of murdering his common-law partner, the mother of five of his children, by drowning her in the water of Gods River in northern Manitoba, a judge has ruled.

Phillip Miles was convicted of second-degree murder for the killing of Juanita Redhead, whose body was found floating in the river on July 14, 2016.

Juanita's sisters, with whom she lived, last saw her leave the house on July 11, 2016. She had gone to meet up with Miles and his cousin, Sharona Redhead.

Sharona testified that she and Miles were drinking together when Miles called Juanita.

Miles had returned to the remote northern community, about 745 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg, on July 8, 2016, after being released from prison, and reconnected with Juanita, with whom he had been in a relationship for the last 20 years.

When Miles and Sharona met up with Juanita on July 11, Miles and Juanita got into an argument, apparently over her belief that Miles was sleeping with her sister.

The argument lasted about 10 minutes, but afterward they appeared to be fine, Sharona testified. The three of them then went down to the river and after a few hours they went swimming, Juanita wearing just her underwear, while Sharona and Miles kept their clothes on.

Witness saw Miles push woman under water

"Sharona testified that when the three of them were in the river, she saw the accused push Juanita down by pushing down on her shoulders with his hands," Justice Sadie Bond wrote in her decision.

Sharona said she thought they were just "horsing around," and she looked away because she thought they were about to have sex in the water.

When she looked back about five minutes later, Juanita was gone.

"Sharona asked [Miles] where Juanita was and the accused said, 'She's gone. I drowned her,'" Bond wrote.

"She said that the accused showed no emotion when he said this. Sharona testified that she did not believe the accused at the time. Sharona and the accused both got out of the water and he said to her, 'Don't say anything.'"

Sharona would later say that she feared that her cousin, who was older and bigger than her, would hurt her if she said anything.

'I don't know if I'm gonna go to heaven or hell'

Meanwhile, Juanita's sisters anxiously began searching for her after she didn't call them or show up for work the next day.

She was found in the river on July 14, wearing only her underwear, and had water in her lungs and abrasions on her hands and face that might have been caused by rocks and sand on the bottom of the river.

One of Miles's other cousins, Yvonne Redhead, testified that he showed up at her house around 11 p.m. on July 12 wearing a sweater that was too small for him, and which the judge determined to have belonged to Juanita.

"The accused was drunk, upset and crying. He said, 'I don't know if I'm gonna go to heaven or hell,'" Bond wrote.

This statement, along with his statement to Sharona that he had drowned Juanita, added up to admissions of guilt, Bond said.

Intent to kill

During the trial, Miles's lawyer argued that his statements could have simply meant that Juanita had drowned, or drowned by accident as a result of them horsing around, but Bond did not accept those arguments.

"Had Juanita accidentally slipped under the water or been washed away in the river, the accused would have done something at that moment to save her," Bond wrote.

"He would have alerted the RCMP, band constables, community members, or family members so that they could help look for her. He did none of those things."

Bond also did not accept the defence's argument that Miles was too intoxicated at the time to form the intent to murder, noting that Sharona saw him walk up the river bank "for about 20 or 25 steps, and that the accused had no difficulty doing so."

Bond concluded that the only reasonable inference is that Miles deliberately pushed Juanita under the water with the intent to kill her.

A second-degree murder conviction carries a minimum sentence of life in prison, with no parole eligibility for 10 years.