BATTLEFORD – A jury trial for a Thunderchild First Nation man on a second-degree murder charge has been adjourned due to COVID-19.
The trial for Ivor Antoine Wapass, 47, started Jan. 4 and was expected to run until Jan. 21 in the Don Ross Centre instead of Battleford Court of Queen’s Bench to accommodate social distancing. Closing arguments were expected to start Tuesday. The trial, however, has been adjourned to Feb. 8 after one of the participants reported feeling ill.
Wapass was arrested Nov. 1, 2019, by RCMP Major Crimes in connection to the death of 57-year-old Roger Fabian Standingwater. According to Turtleford RCMP, police responded to a call of an unresponsive man on Sept. 15, 2018, at a home on Thunderchild First Nation. When police arrived, they found Standingwater in medical distress. EMS arrived and pronounced him deceased at the scene.
North Battleford General Investigation Section and Forensic Identification Section assisted with the investigation.
The charges against Wapass haven’t been proven in court.
According to an obituary on Marshalls Funeral Home, Standingwater was raised on Thunderchild First Nation by his grandparents. His grandfather taught him how to hunt from an early age and he taught his nephews how to hunt.
Standingwater left behind three daughters.
