Cassidy Bernard's ex-boyfriend pleads guilty to manslaughter in her death

Warning: This article contains disturbing details.

The ex-boyfriend of Cassidy Bernard has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in her death.

Dwight Austin Isadore had initially been charged with second-degree murder, but the Crown accepted a guilty plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter Monday in Port Hawkesbury Supreme Court.

Isadore, 23, also pleaded guilty to two charges of child abandonment in connection with the case.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Isadore assaulted Bernard, who was his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his two children, on Oct. 21, 2018.

The Indigenous woman died from her injuries that day and was found inside her home on the We'koqma'q First Nation, N.S., on Oct. 24, 2018. She was found in her bed, under a blanket and covered in heavy makeup

She was 22 years old at the time of her death and Isadore was 19.

Court documents state that Bernard’s seven-month-old twin girls were found inside a crib next to their mother. The infants were cold, dehydrated, disoriented and malnourished, but they survived.

An autopsy determined Bernard had died from blunt force injuries to her neck and head and her death was ruled a homicide.

Isadore was arrested on Dec. 3, 2019 and charged with second-degree murder and two counts of abandoning a child.

Court documents state that, after his arrest, Isadore admitted to the RCMP that he had gone to Bernard’s home and they had gotten into an argument. He said he struck Bernard several times in the face, neck and back, and that she died in his arms.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Isadore told police that he placed her in her bed, put a blanket over her, and applied makeup to her face to conceal her injuries. He told police the twins were still in their crib when he left the home and he didn’t return.

Isadore will be sentenced on July 6.