Regina man gets nine years for manslaughter in 2017 killing

A Regina man is off to prison for manslaughter — and for threatening a witness in the case.

According to court documents, Nayo Pisim Fox pleaded guilty Wednesday in Court of Queen’s Bench to manslaughter in the death of 35-year-old Thurston James Mintuck on Dec. 3, 2017.

Fox, 29, was sentenced to nine years in prison. With credit for time served on remand, he was to spend 2,721 days behind bars on that charge.

Fox also was sentenced to 540 days, to be served consecutively, for threatening a witness while he was in custody.

According to a police media release from December of 2019, officers found Mintuck injured in the 1200 block of Retallack Street on Dec. 3, 2017.

He was taken to hospital, where he was pronounced dead. It was Regina’s ninth homicide of that year.

Fox was arrested Dec. 13, 2019 and charged with first-degree murder.

In June of 2020, police issued a media release saying Fox also had been charged with threatening witnesses in the case after “disguising” his use of the phones at the Regina Correctional Centre “to avoid detection while threatening and intimidating witnesses for an upcoming criminal trial.”

Police said the calls were made between December 2019 and April 2020.

At the time, police said Fox was under court-ordered conditions prohibiting him from contacting witnesses. Police said Fox made the phone calls to threaten witnesses and their families in order to manipulate the witnesses’ testimony in court.

On Wednesday, Fox pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and to the charge of intimidation of a justice participant. In addition to his prison sentence, he also was handed a lifetime firearms prohibition.