Warning: This article contains disturbing details.
Cassidy Bernard’s ex-boyfriend pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Dwight Austin Isadore was initially charged with second-degree murder, but the Crown pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of manslaughter on Monday in Port Hawkesbury Supreme Court.
Isadore, 23, also pleaded guilty to two charges of abandoning children in connection with the case.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Isadore attacked Bernard, who is his ex-girlfriend and mother of his two children, on October 21, 2018.
The indigenous woman died of her injuries that day and was found at her home in We’koqma’q First Nation, NS, on October 24, 2018. She was found in her bed, under a blanket and covered with heavy makeup
She was 22 at the time of her death and Isadore was 19.
Court documents say Bernard’s seven-month-old twins were found in a crib next to their mother. The babies were cold, dehydrated, disoriented and malnourished, but they survived.
An autopsy found that Bernard had died from blunt force injuries to her neck and head, and her death was determined to be murder.
Isadore was arrested on December 3rd and charged with second-degree murder and two counts of child abandonment.
Court documents show that after his arrest, Isadore admitted to the RCMP that he had gone to Bernard’s home and they quarreled. He said he hit Bernard several times on the face, neck and back and that she died in his arms.
According to the agreed statement of facts, Isador told police that he put her to bed, put a blanket on her face and put make-up on her face to cover up her injuries. He told police that the twins were still in their crib when he left home and did not return.
Isadore will be convicted on July 6th.
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