Manitoba woman accused of killing former wrestler Croatian Giant denied bail

WINNIPEG – A Manitoba woman facing a new murder trial in the killing of a former pro wrestler has been denied bail.

Rita Cushnie, who is 59, learned Friday that she will be in custody while awaiting her retrial for first-degree murder in the death of Ivan Radocaj.

Reasons for the court’s decision are under a publication ban and cannot be reported.

No trial dates have been set and Cushnie will remain in provincial custody on remand.

Defence lawyer Mike Cook said he was disappointed with the decision, saying she’d been on bail for years prior to her first trial without any problems.

Cushnie, Melody Sanford and Cushnie’s son, Donald Richard, were each convicted in Radocaj’s murder after a joint jury trial held in 2011.

All three were handed a mandatory life sentence without a chance at parole for 25 years.

Radocaj, who was a pro wrestler in the 1980s under stage names that included The Croatian Giant, was beaten to death inside his Interlake home.

The appeal court found the jury’s verdict against Cushnie may have been unfairly tainted by evidence against Sanford and Richard.

There is also evidence jurors may have wrongly speculated about her role in the case, despite being instructed by the trial judge not to do so.

Sanford and Richard’s convictions were upheld by the high court, but Sanford is currently seeking a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge that decision.