Homicide suspect makes brief court appearance

By Lethbridge Herald on May 18, 2022.

Delon Shurtz
Lethbridge Herald

 45-year-old man accused in the city’s first homicide of the year made a brief appearance Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court.

The accused, Sheldon Nicholas LePage, appeared by closed-circuit TV from the Lethbridge Correctional Centre, where he has been remanded since his arrest earlier in the month. His matter was first addressed Monday, without his attendance in court, but simply adjourned for a day.

LePage, who is represented by Lethbridge lawyer Tracy Hembroff, is charged with manslaughter, failure to comply with release orders and failure to comply with probation.

The charges stem from an incident at about 8:30 p.m. on May 5 when the 44-year-old victim, Amber Bahadur Khadka, was approached by a man near the intersection of 8 Street and 2 Avenue North. During an argument, the man struck Khadka, knocking him down and causing him to strike his head on the ground. The assailant left the area, but was found by police and arrested later in the day.

Police said the two men knew each other and the altercation was targeted at the victim. An autopsy May 9 confirmed the cause of death as a homicide.

The accused also faces previous, unrelated charges of assault and failure to comply with release orders. All the matters have been adjourned to May 31.

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