Dozens, if not hundreds, of wounds inflicted on man, murder trial told

The body of a Winnipeg man beaten to death in a North End drug house was outside a Flora Avenue church for nearly a week before it was discovered, a court has been told.

Christopher Kyle Wattman, 38, Hazel Flett, 38 and Victoria Lee Andrews, 28, are on trial charged with first-degree murder in the December 2023 killing of 20-year-old Brooklyn Elijah Hiebert.

Prosecutor Theresa Cannon laid out the Crown’s theory of the case in an opening address before Court of King’s Bench Justice Joan McKelvey on Monday.

Hiebert and the three accused were at a Selkirk Avenue “trap house” on the evening of Dec. 24, 2023, when Hiebert got into an argument with Flett and a number of unidentified people.

Flett “directed” Hiebert to go into the basement, where Wattman was called upon a short time later to “confront” him, Cannon said.

“At some point, Mr. Hiebert was tied to a folding chair with duct tape,” Cannon said. “He was then subjected to a prolonged beating at the hands of Mr. Wattman and others during which he begged his attackers not to kill him.”

At some point during the attack, Flett returned upstairs and Andrews went into the basement, Cannon told court.

“Ms. Flett eventually left the residence, but before doing so she gave orders to the others to finish the assault by killing Mr. Hiebert,” Cannon said.

A witness is expected to testify she saw Hiebert on the floor, covered in blood and tied to a chair as Wattman and Andrews beat his body with bricks.

“As a result of massive blood loss from what you will hear were dozens, if not hundreds, of individual wounds, Mr. Hiebert died in that basement,” Cannon told McKelvey.

Hiebert’s body was wrapped in various “household items” and duct tape, placed in the trunk of a car and then driven a short distance to a church in the 200 block of Flora Avenue, where it was “deposited” against a fence.

Another witness is expected to tell court he was enlisted to help move the body out of the house.

“He will testify he was at the home when told there was a body in the basement, that they had killed this person and that they needed his help to move the body to the car,” Cannon said.

Blood stains in the basement confirm that was where Hiebert was killed and area security video suggests his body was left outside the church that same night, Cannon said.

Hiebert’s body remained undiscovered until Dec. 30.

The trial is set for four weeks. All three accused remain in custody.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca