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WARNING: This article contains details of child abuse.
Ashley Rattlesnake, 30, appeared in an Edmonton courtroom on Wednesday for the first day of her sentencing hearing in the death of eight-year-old Nina Napope Dumais.
Publication bans on the names of the victim, the accused and witnesses were lifted during the proceedings, allowing Napope Dumais to be publicly identified for the first time since her death in 2023.
Rattlesnake was initially charged with first-degree murder. The charge was later reduced to second-degree murder before she pleaded guilty to manslaughter in September 2025.
Her guilty plea was opposed by Napope Dumais’ family and the Edmonton Police Service, who asked a provincial justice official to intervene, calling the proposed agreement a “miscarriage of justice” that should be reviewed.
Family and friends filled the courtroom Wednesday, many wearing shirts bearing Napope Dumais’ photo on the front and the words “Justice for Nina” on the back.
Starr Dumais, the little girl’s grandmother, read a victim impact statement written by Napope Dumais’ father, Brandon Dumais.
“When I walk outside and feel the warmth of the sun on your skin, that was Nina, my baby,” the statement read.
He described his daughter as full of life and deeply connected to her family.
“I know my baby girl would have grown, forged into a beautiful young woman. That I will never get to see. … My baby girl’s life was taken.”
Speaking to reporters outside court, Starr Dumais said lifting the publication ban was an important moment for the family.
“To me, it was like they were protecting her name, who she was,” she said. “To let people know, you know, that she has a name. [She’s] not just a blurred picture on the news. She has a family. She has a name. And she’s very loved and missed. And I’m just glad that they lifted it.”
Napope Dumais was reported missing from Edmonton in April 2023. Her body was found days later in a hockey bag in Maskwacis, Alta., about 95 kilometres south of the city.
She had been in Rattlesnake’s care at the time, along with three other children. All four children share the same father, who was incarcerated when Napope Dumais died.
Court previously heard that Napope Dumais was subjected to ongoing abuse. Younger children in the home told police she was “the subject of regular abuse” that was not inflicted on them.
An autopsy found multiple injuries in various stages of healing, which the medical examiner concluded were the result of chronic abuse. Blunt-force trauma to the head was ruled the cause of death, though Napope Dumais also suffered from sepsis and other injuries that left her body in a weakened state.
Her injuries included fractured bones, broken teeth and extensive bruising and abrasions.
The Crown is recommending a nine-year sentence, noting the findings of a Gladue report. The defence is seeking seven years.
The sentence is expected to be handed out on Friday.
