SASKATOON – A woman whose 1994 murder conviction is under review as a possible miscarriage of justice was in Saskatoon court Thursday to face charges that she had breached her bail conditions.
Nerissa Quewezance was remanded in custody and is now scheduled to appear in court on July 17 for a bail hearing.
Nerissa, and her sister Odelia, were granted day parole at Yorkton Court of King’s Bench in March 2023 pending the federal Justice Department review of their 1994 second-degree murder convictions. In June 2022, then federal Justice Minister David Lametti said that, “It has been determined there may be a reasonable basis to conclude that a miscarriage of justice likely occurred in this matter.”
Two retired federal judges who headed the creation of a commission to review wrongful convictions [Bill C-40 David and Joyce Milgaard’s Law] say the conviction of Saskatchewan sisters Odelia and Nerissa Quewezance has signs of a miscarriage of justice. Justice Harry LaForme and Justice Juanita Westmoreland-Traore were appointed by Lametti to lead consultations for the establishment of the independent Criminal Case Review Commission and the Saskatchewan sisters’ case had been brought to their attention.
“It strongly suggested to us that this had many indicia of a miscarriage of justice given that the sisters were still imprisoned while someone had confessed to the crime, served his sentence, and was now free of prison,” said Justice Harry LaForme in an interview with SaskToday in 2022.
The sisters’ cousin – who was a youth at the time - previously confessed on APTN that he is the one who killed Dolff. The youth was sentenced to only four years in prison. And, during Nerissa and Odelia’s 1994 trial, he had testified in court that Nerissa Quewezance tried stopping the murder from happening when he was planning it, according to court transcripts.
Neither of the sisters pleaded guilty to the murder and they continue to maintain their innocence.
The sisters have the support of Senator Kim Pate and the late David Milgaard.
