The family of Beverly Littlecrow is asking the Crown to appeal the not guilty verdict of the man accused of killing her.
“The family is deeply saddened and outraged with the acquittal of Gabriel Faucher,” cousin Diane Littlecrow says. “We are calling on the justice system to appeal this decision and requesting an immediate response from the Crown. Beverly was a beautiful woman. She was an educator, and she was taken from her children, family and community.”
Littlecrow was found unconscious on Jan. 24, 2016 in the bedroom of the home she shared with the 45-year-old Faucher near Kinley, Saskatchewan.
She died shortly after in hospital of a brain bleed.
Faucher was first charged with second-degree murder, which was then later reduced to manslaughter.
At the trial, he testified Littlecrow stumbled into a wall, hit her head and collapsed on him in bed.
A hole was found in the drywall above Littlecrow’s pillow.
“I cannot rule out with sufficient certainty the possibility that the injury that caused Ms. Littlecrow’s death was an accident,” Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Gary Meschishnick says in his written decision.
The not guilty verdict was delivered on Nov. 19.
“It’s just justice is not done for our girls, our women or for any Indigenous person. It seems like the Crown does not care, and that is what happened here,” Littlecrow’s father John Vanderkuylen says. “We need to be able to send her home in a good way and I can’t do that. I can’t let this go yet because we haven’t sorted anything out yet.”
(PHOTO: Beverly Littlecrow. Photo courtesy Beverly Littlecrow family.)