Murray Wood: The day Canada Became a nation
April 9, 1917 was Easter Monday. On that date, 109 years ago, Canadian soldiers made history at Vimy Ridge. Murray Wood ...
The inquest into the death of Nadine Machiskinic is entering its third day.
On Tuesday the jury heard more about the police investigation into the 29-year-old’s death. She fell 10-storeys down the laundry chute at the Delta Hotel in January 2015.
Earlier the inquest learned that it took 60 hours for Regina police major crimes to get involved, under the assumption made that Machiskinic was simply an intoxicated woman who had passed out.
But it wasn’t until a year after her death a second set of eyes on the case was put on the case.
The jury heard from Det. Sgt. Troy Davis, who was tasked with trying to identify two men seen in the security video in the lobby of the Delta.
The two men, who remain unidentified, it is believed they got into the elevator at the same time as Machiskinic.
Davis detailed how the Delta initially refused to hand over its guest list from that night and it took a letter from the coroner to get them to do so.
But in an unfortunate twist, the hotel was overseeing a computer upgrade and management change so almost a third of the 70-80 guests registered that night had been purged from the system.
Davis explained to the jury that a boilermaker’s convention was being held at the hotel so along with looking at SGI’s database, along with help from the union, no one recognized the two men.
Despite efforts to go through all names through in-province and out-of-province identification lists, the two men still could not be found.
A photo of the two men was released to the public through the media in the hopes of identifying them, but that generated just two tips.
Davis received one tip that Machiskinic may have been at Casino Regina earlier that night but it was too late to get the video footage so that remains unconfirmed.
He and his team also tried to piece together Machiskinic’s movements earlier that day. While they established she was found in North Central appearing “beaten up,” certainty about her whereabouts remains patchy.
The jury at the inquest also heard from Shannon Hynes, the paramedic that attended to Machiskinic at the Delta.
Hynes noticed obvious contusions on her arms and legs but no obvious signs of trauma.
She didn’t remember the laundry chute only that Machiskinic was lying on the floor with nothing underneath her.
EMS are told only to take “what was necessary” so apart from Machiskinic’s ID and health card, all other belongs were left behind and likely thrown out by the hotel.
Asked by the lawyer representing Regina police if there was a need to call the police that night, Hynes said no.
“I would have done had I known what I know now,” she said.
The coroner’s inquest does not assign blame in the case but will make recommendations to prevent similar events from happening.
