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Brayden Bushby convicted of manslaughter in fatal trailer hitch attack

A Thunder Bay man has been found guilty in the 2017 death of 34-year-old Barbara Kentner. 
Brayden Bushby Trial
Brayden Bushby arrives at the Courthouse Hotel on Monday, Nov. 2, 2020 for the start of his manslaughter trial in the death of Barbara Kentner. (Cory Nordstrom, Thunder Bay Television)

THUNDER BAY — Brayden Bushby has been convicted of one count of manslaughter in the 2017 death of a 34-year-old Indigenous woman.

Thunder Bay Superior Court judge Helen M. Pierce delivered her verdict on Monday, Dec. 14, at the Courthouse Hotel on Camelot Street.

Bushby had previously pleaded not guilty to one count of manslaughter at the start of his trial more than a month ago. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault in connection to the incident. 

Court heard Bushby, then 18, threw a metal trailer hitch at Barbara Kentner’s abdomen from a moving vehicle which caused a small bowel rupture in the early morning hours of Jan. 29, 2017 in a residential neighbourhood in Thunder Bay.

Kentner suffered a perforated bowel as a result of being hit and required an emergency high-risk operation a day after the assault in order to repair the internal injury.

She died approximately five months later in July 2017. A post-mortem completed three days after Kentner died determined her death was caused by complications arising from the blunt force injury to her abdomen and liver failure was a contributing factor.

More to come.


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Karen Edwards

About the Author: Karen Edwards

Karen Edwards reports on court and crime under the Local Journalism initiative, which is funded by the Government of Canada.
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