Family of accused struggling with Pelican Narrows death

Fighting that ended in a man’s death in Pelican Narrows all happened while the victim’s mother-in-law was asleep in the same house.

Geraldine Charles said the victim, 38-year-old Wilfred Brent Sewap, and her son Blaine Jonathan Charles, 22, had physical disagreements during the day on Dec. 30.

Blaine was arrested the next day for second-degree murder and faced his charges on Jan. 2 at Prince Albert Provincial Court.

Geraldine – Blaine’s mother – was present, along with her mother and brother. The family was emotional as they saw Blaine in the prisoner’s box.

Blaine was escorted away following his representation’s explanation to the court they will seek a bail hearing at a later date. Geraldine blew a kiss at her son as her mother waved at Blaine.

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Outside court after the appearance Geraldine said seeing her son on Friday was difficult “because I’m not allowed to talk to him,” her voice breaking as she spoke.

A family in mourning

Despite the earlier arguments between Sewap and Blaine, Geraldine said it appeared things had calmed between the two when she laid down to sleep on the day of the fatal incident. The men both lived in the same house as Geraldine, she said.

When Geraldine woke up she found Wilfred had been fatally hurt.

“When I got on the floor where Wilfred was laying he was already white all over his face. Because I did CPR on him and it didn’t work.”

Geraldine called 911 that night, and confirms she had called police earlier because of fights between Sewap and Blaine.

According to the RCMP, Sewap was pronounced dead shortly after 7:30 a.m. after he was taken to Angelique Canada Health Centre. He had been unresponsive previous to that.

Geraldine said Sewap and Blaine got along most of the time, unless alcohol was involved.

“They never used to fight,” she said. “They played cards together, played crib together.”

Sewap’s death was completely unexpected for Geraldine’s tight knit family, she said.

“We’re all hurt.”

Some of Geraldine’s family had to miss Blaine’s court date to stay in Pelican Narrows, which is over 300 kilometres north east of Prince Albert.

The recent death has been especially hard on Blaine’s sister, who was also Wilfred’s girlfriend.

“She was three months pregnant. So she’s having a really hard time,” Geraldine said with tears in her eyes.

Sewap’s autopsy was scheduled for Friday at Saskatoon City Hospital.

claskowski@panow.com

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk