Winnipegger serving manslaughter sentence earns extra month for trashing Brandon cell

BRANDON — A Winnipeg man who is serving a 12-year prison sentence has been given another month behind bars for his role in trashing a Brandon Correctional Centre unit in 2022.

Theodoros Kyriakakos, 24, pleaded guilty to mischief under $5,000 in Brandon provincial court on Monday. The Crown and defence agreed on the sentence.

Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup read the evidence for the charge in court.

On Nov. 11, 2022, Brandon police were notified that members of “sub-unit Bravo” at the jail had trashed the unit. When police arrived, they took photos of extensive damage, including a smashed TV, broken furniture, a doorknob that had been smashed off a steel door and thrown through a large glass window and food and hygiene items strewn about.

The destruction took place after an inmate became agitated and the aggression spread. Cameras were damaged, so there was no video footage of the destruction.

Kyriakakos took responsibility for throwing the doorknob at the window. The cost of that damage was $4,884.

Lonstrup said the month-long sentence was recommended because the Crown would have trouble proving the offence at trial without security footage.

“The real go-forward (jail time), from the Crown’s benefit, is it has made clear he was not a well-behaved provincial remand inmate and I think that’s the best we get out of the circumstances,” Lonstrup said.

Kyriakakos’s lawyer, Laura Robinson, told court her client was transferred to Warkworth Institution in Ontario, where he is enrolled in programming offered by the prison.

Robinson said that after the destructive events at the Brandon jail in 2022, Kyriakakos received punishment from the jail, including segregation and fines.

“Not only do we have immediate consequences, we now have the acceptance of responsibility and entry on his criminal record and an additional sentence that he is facing,” the defence lawyer said.

Robinson also added details about Kyriakakos’s background — he was born in Eritrea and placed in an orphanage at the age of 10 months. He was adopted by an Eritrean couple at age three and moved to Canada a year later.

Provincial court Judge John Combs called incidents like the 2022 jailhouse destruction “far too common” because of the stress of being in custody and being exposed to the rigid controls imposed by a jail.

“Obviously, this kind of behaviour is unacceptable,” Combs said as he endorsed the recommended month-long sentence.

Kyriakakos was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a Winnipeg judge last October after pleading guilty to manslaughter for the death of Kyle Braithwaite, 29, who was a B-Side gang member. Braithwaite was shot in the chest and back by Kyriakakos’s co-accused, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

An assessment report cited by the sentencing judge in a written decision stated that Kyriakakos grew up in Winnipeg and spent time in Toronto. He struggled to find work and turned to crime to financially sustain himself.

— Brandon Sun