Open this photo in gallery:
Brayden Bushby, left, departs the courthouse with his mother after being found guilty of manslaughter in the death of Barbara Kentner, in Thunder Bay, Ont., in February, 2021.David Jackson/The Canadian Press
An organization representing dozens of northern Ontario First Nations says a man who threw a trailer hitch at an Indigenous woman from a moving car in Thunder Bay, Ont., has been granted full parole, a decision it calls “incomprehensible.”
Nishnawbe Aski Nation says the Parole Board of Canada’s decision to approve Brayden Bushby’s release comes as “devastating news” for the family of Barbara Kentner, the woman who died months after he struck her with a heavy hitch late one night in January 2017.
It says the communities of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway First Nation and Thunder Bay are also devastated.
Kentner, 34, was walking on a residential city street with her sister when Bushby, who was drunk at the time and wanted to yell at “hookers,” lifted himself through the car window and threw the hitch as he and his friends drove by.
Kentner was struck in the abdomen and died six months later.
Man who threw a trailer hitch at an Indigenous woman, killing her, has day parole revoked
Bushby pleaded guilty to aggravated assault but was convicted of manslaughter for what the presiding judge described as a callous, misogynist attack. He was sentenced to eight years behind bars.
Nishnawbe Aski Nation says the parole board granted Bushby full parole last week, a move it says “sends a dangerous and misguided message.
“Barbara was greatly loved and is greatly missed. We are extremely disappointed to learn that her attacker has been granted full parole and that parole officials have deemed him suitable for reintegration into society,” the organization said in a statement.
“This feels like a profound injustice.”