Chatham man pleads guilty to manslaughter in beating death

Chatham man pleads guilty to manslaughter in beating death

Death didn’t come quick or easy for Beau Veenstra.

For nine agonizing days, the 31-year-old Chatham-Kent man lingered in a hospital room after his family made the heart-wrenching decision to remove him from life support.

Roughly 13 months after Veenstra died from the severe injuries he suffered during a vicious beating in a Chatham apartment unit, co-accused Melvin Manley pleaded guilty to manslaughter.

Sentenced by Justice Robert Horton to three-and-a-half years in prison, Manley, 50, will spend another 711 days in a cell after receiving pre-sentence custody. His co-accused, 26-year-old Daulton Bastien also pleaded guilty early last month and is slated to be sentenced Nov. 23.

Wednesday’s hearing was marked by four powerful victim-impact statements read by Veenstra’s grieving family.

“I will never forget the day of Sept. 26, 2021, when my mother called me to tell me about the news that we had to pull (Beau) off life support as Beau would never wake up from his coma,” said Taya Veenstra .

He died on Oct. 8, 2021.

“Being in the room where it all happened was scarring, scary and something no one on this Earth should ever have to witness, let alone to experience,” his sister told the court.

Beau Veenstra’s mother, Claudette, told the court that she struggled to write her statement.

“How can I put into words the unrelenting anguish and heartbreak I feel each and every day,” she said. “Just thinking about my beautiful boy and how he passed is a pain that is still too great to bear.”

Earlier in the hearing, Crown attorney Rob McDonald read an agreed statement of facts to the court that detailed the events that led to Beau Veenstra’s death. The victim and his girlfriend had joined Bastien for a visit to the Sandy Street apartment of Manley and Manley’s girlfriend, Michelle Hunter, where they had taken powerful opioids.

Hunter, 42, was roused during the early morning hours of Sept. 21, 2021, to find Veenstra in her bedroom rummaging through Manley’s dresser drawers. She told Bastien to tell Manley about Veenstra’s indiscretion.

After asking Manley to let him take care of the problem, Bastien attacked Veenstra. Bastien punched Veenstra several times, knocking him unconscious, before picking him up and slamming him in a nearby flesh. Later, Manley handed Bastien a roll of duct tape to bind Veenstra to the chair, McDonald told the court.

After passing out, Manley woke to find Bastien kicking Veenstra in the face. Manley then intervened, asking Daulton what was wrong with him and if he was trying to kill Veenstra, McDonald said.

A warrant obtained by Chatham-Kent police for the content of Hunter’s cellphone led to the discovery of two videos dated 3:15 am and 3:17 am on Sept. 21, 2021, that showed Veenstra with what appeared to be a broken jaw and other serious head injuries. Two hours later, Manley and Hunter finally took Veentra to the local emergency department, dropping him off at the Chatham hospital in a wheelchair, McDonald told the court.

A post-molten determined Veenstra’s severe injuries, include a traumatic brain injury caused by multiple blunt force impacts to the head, were the cause of death.

The coroner, McDonald said, also confirmed Veentra’s death as a homicide.

Hunter was also sentenced Wednesday following her Oct. 20 guilty plea for obstructing justice. Hunter, who was just released on bail following her guilty plea, was sentenced by Horton to time served.

At the hearing’s conclusion, Horton gave Manley and Hunter an opportunity to address the court, which they both declined.

The judge also spoke directly to Veenstra’s family and friends, telling them he was truly sorry for their loss.

Their victim-impact statements, he said, “made it very clear to me how profound the loss is, not just for each of you as individuals, but as our community.”

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