By Canadian Press

Man jailed for role in Winnipeg woman’s death during botched robbery

May 17, 2019 | 8:21 AM

WINNIPEG — A man has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for his role in the death of an Indigenous woman who was killed during a botched robbery.

Jeanenne Fontaine, who was 29, was shot and her Winnipeg home set on fire in 2017 when three men came to her house to collect on a drug debt her boyfriend owed.

In January, a jury found Jason Meilleur guilty of manslaughter.

The Crown asked that Meilleur be sentenced to 15 years and the defence wanted four.

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Fontaine was the cousin of Tina Fontaine, a teenager whose body had been found three years earlier in the Red River, and whose death fuelled renewed calls for a national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women.

The trial heard how Jeanenne Fontaine was struggling with addictions after her cousin’s death.

In his sentencing decision, the judge says statements from Fontaine’s family and friends showed heartbreaking grief.

The Canadian Press