Man accused of killing Tina Fontaine to go directly to trial in Winnipeg

WINNIPEG — The man charged in the death of 15-year-old Tina Fontaine is going directly to trial.

The lawyer for Raymond Cormier, who is charged with second-degree murder, says the next step is to set a trial date.

A preliminary hearing had been scheduled, but Manitoba Justice confirmed it has signed a direct indictment in the case.

Tina’s body was found wrapped in a garbage bag in the Red River in Winnipeg in August 2014.

The teen had only been in Winnipeg a couple of weeks after leaving her great-aunt’s home on the Sagkeeng First Nation, about 70 kilometres northeast of Winnipeg.

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Her death spurred calls for an inquiry into murdered and missing indigenous women.

“My client is very disappointed that the Crown took away his right to a preliminary hearing and chose to go straight to trial. My client feels his rights to a fair defence have been trampled,” Cormier’s lawyer, Tony Kavanagh, said in an email to CTV News.

According to Manitoba Justice policy, a preliminary hearing should be held and direct indictment should only be considered when “exceptional circumstances exist that outweigh the benefits of holding a preliminary inquiry.”

Tina was in the care of Child and Family Services, but police said she became an exploited youth in the Manitoba capital. Police have said she met Cormier at a residence they both frequented.

Court documents allege Tina was killed around Aug. 10, 2014 — 10 days after she was first reported missing from foster care. Police picked her up two days before it’s believed she was killed, but did not take her into custody.

Tina’s family has said she was found a few hours later, passed out in a downtown alley, and taken to hospital. She was picked up by social workers and placed in a downtown hotel, but ran away again shortly before she was killed.

(CTV Winnipeg)

The Canadian Press