WINNIPEG — Five months before she was brutally beaten to death in the rough North End Winnipeg neighbourhood, Selena Keeper was denied a protection order against her former boyfriend — the same man now accused of killing her.
The 20-year-old spoke by phone May 19 to a justice of the peace based in Brandon, Man., and alleged in a soft, matter-of-fact voice that she had been hit, kicked and beaten regularly by Ray William Everett.
Everett, 20, was charged last week with second-degree murder when Keeper died after an assault outside a home.
In a recording of the May 19 hearing, Keeper tells justice of the peace Debra Motuz that she was regularly beaten during a two-year relationship with Everett, even while she was pregnant with the couple's child.
"He would always kick me to the corners and try and kick my tummy. He would punch me. It was like an everyday routine."
The couple broke up in 2014, but Everett continued to seek her out, Keeper said. Last December, when the two were drinking together, she was assaulted and police were called, she said.
"I just remember waking up in the hospital with four stitches on my nose — a fractured nose, a bruised face and a concussion."
Keeper's decision to seek a protection order was promoted by an encounter April 9 in which she told the hearing Everett "slapped me across the face."
Keeper filed a sworn affidavit to support her testimony, but none of the allegations was proven in court.
She also said she was concerned Everett had access to weapons because he belonged to a street gang.
Motuz rejected the application for a protection order, which would have prevented the man from contacting Keeper in any way.
"It's an extraordinary remedy to be granted a protection order and it's only to be granted when serious and urgent circumstances indicate a need for prompt action to protect the victim," Motuz said toward the end of the 15-minute hearing.
"Based on the time frame — today being May 19, which is some five to six weeks after the last incident — I am not satisfied that you require protection on an immediate basis."
The justice of the peace formally dismissed the application and asked Keeper if she understood.
"All right?"
"Yeah," Keeper replied softly.
She was found in critical condition outside a home last Thursday morning. Police said she had been assaulted repeatedly inside the residence and witnesses had attempted to intervene to no avail. She was left outside and later taken to hospital where she died.
Everett was arrested hours later nearby. He remains in custody and has yet to enter a plea.
