Sentencing rescheduled for second attacker in death of Henry Kipling
The partner of a Peguis First Nation man who was killed in Winnipeg after violent assaults from two separate people hopes her family can begin to move on after a man involved in his death is sentenced next week.
Henry Kipling, then 43, died after being assaulted by a woman, then a man after a night of drinking and dancing at the Northern Hotel on Main Street on Feb. 27, 2016.
Travis Chief, 25, was convicted of manslaughter in December of last year and was scheduled to face sentencing Tuesday morning. Leana Sutherland, Kipling's partner, was scheduled to read her impact statement as part of the sentencing.
On Tuesday, his sentencing was rescheduled to take place on May 28.
Jenna Traverse, 25, was convicted of aggravated assault and will be sentenced in July. Winnipeg Police have two warrants out for her arrest after she failed to comply with court orders.
"I hope they're listening. To see and realize what happened. They hurt a lot of us, not just him," said Leana Sutherland, 50. "They hurt his kids, my grand-kids, us, mom, sisters. And then they hurt themselves, of what they done.
"I hate what they done. That's the choices that people make. And we have to live with that. Even our choice to go out that night. I have to live with that too. All the could'ves," she said through tears.
The couple — 'soul mates,' according to Sutherland — were visiting Winnipeg and went out that Saturday, which was unusual, but they had cause for celebration as it was her son's wedding social. The two got separated after last call at 2 a.m.
Security footage from the hotel shows Kipling appear to get jostled by others in line for the beer vendor into a heavy-set woman near the entrance of the building. She turns and hits him in the face, and is abruptly escorted out by the hotel manager, Keith Horn.
When Kipling steps outside, he is looking the other way when the woman punches him in the face again, knocking him onto his back on the sidewalk, causing him to hit his head. Bystanders help him struggle to his feet, but he wavers.
Once standing, the footage shows the woman yank him down again from behind, causing him to hit his head on the pavement a second time.
"I went outside and stopped her, and then I picked him up off the ground. There was no bleeding. I didn't notice till afterwards how hard he'd hit. He was stiff when I helped him up," said Horn, who still remembers the night with sadness and frustration. He knew and liked Kipling, though he said he visited the hotel infrequently.
Kipling and Sutherland, who joined Horn after the blows, waited at the corner of the block for a cab home, but others hopped in waiting cars ahead of them each time.
Twenty-seven minutes later, surveillance footage shows a man who throws Kipling to the ground, steal his beer and run off. He hits his head a third time, but this time, doesn't get up. He later died in hospital.
"I don't see why they picked on him. Maybe they thought he was weak because he was small. It's just a waste, what they did," said Sutherland.
Kipling walked with a limp and had shortened limbs because of a spinal cord disorder. He had children of his own, a job working at the bingo hall in Peguis First Nation, and was well-loved by many friends and family, said Sutherland.
She has not yet seen the video footage, taken by Northern Hotel security cameras, of the assaults.
"I hold them both responsible. I feel in my heart that they both contributed the same. To me they both did it," said Sutherland.
Ongoing pain
It's been more than two years since Kipling's death, but the struggle hasn't ended for Sutherland. She has been hospitalized several times, once almost dying herself, because the anxiety and grief over his death aggravates her asthma. She moved to Winnipeg to be closer to medical help, her family and the court proceedings that she hopes will eventually bring justice.
"I feel like they took part of my life because we did everything for each other," she said.
"I feel sick right now. I just want it over," she said "I wanna move around and do stuff with my life than stay home and cry all the time."
Her memory of the night is a recurring nightmare that hits her even when she's awake, she said. Instead, she tries to focus on all the happy times, like the cherry blossom candies Kipling would hide under her pillow, or the suckers he brought for her sons, unaware they were both over 20, when Sutherland told him he'd have to win them over in order to be with her.
"They still took them!" she said, laughing.
"I know he wants us to be happy and not being stuck. And I don't want to be stuck. And I know he wouldn't want us to be stuck anywhere. Like to try to get on with life as we can, capable of what we can do," she said.
Sutherland used to work as a dispatcher in Peguis First Nation and said she hopes to return to work one day. She still wears the promise ring Kipling gave her in his joy that she had fallen in love with him, telling her then, "When you're ready."
"I miss him a lot. Just hope that family can get on, move on, as what they can. And just try because Henry loved life so we should love life too," she said.
'We got this'
Before the sentencing hearing was scheduled to take place, she said she'd keep his words in mind when she entered the courtroom Tuesday.
"He goes, 'Miss we got this," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks.
"And it's not like the material things, it's the memories. You have to always make it good. And that's what I'm doing. We're trying to do everything good that we can."
She said she feels anger and complicated emotions toward the accused, but wants them both to get help. Her love for Henry is what keeps her going.
"I'll be getting some kind of justice for him. And his family. But him not being here is still my ongoing part. Because it's hard. It's really hard."
