Man who threw trailer hitch at Indigenous woman granted full parole: Indigenous group

A man who threw a trailer hitch at an Indigenous woman from a moving car in Thunder Bay, Ont., has been granted full parole, an organization representing dozens of northern Ontario First Nations said Tuesday, calling the decision “incomprehensible.”

Nishnawbe Aski Nation said the Parole Board of Canada’s decision to approve Brayden Bushby’s release comes as “devastating news” for the family of Barbara Kentner, the woman who died months after he struck her with a heavy hitch late one night in January 2017.

The communities of Wabigoon Lake Ojibway First Nation and Thunder Bay are also devastated, the organization said in a statement.

Kentner, 34, was walking on a residential city street with her sister when Bushby, who was drunk at the time and wanted to yell at “hookers,” lifted himself through the car window and threw the hitch as he and his friends drove by.

Kentner was struck in the abdomen and died six months later.

Bushby pleaded guilty to aggravated assault but was convicted of manslaughter for what the presiding judge described as a callous, misogynist attack. He was sentenced in 2021 to eight years behind bars.

Nishnawbe Aski Nation said the parole board granted Bushby full parole last week, a move it said “sends a dangerous and misguided message.

“Barbara was greatly loved and is greatly missed. We are extremely disappointed to learn that her attacker has been granted full parole and that parole officials have deemed him suitable for reintegration into society,” it said.

“This feels like a profound injustice.”

Bushby was previously granted day parole in 2023, allowing him to live at his mother’s home, but the parole board revoked his release the following year.

At the time, the board said it found Bushby had violated several terms of his day parole, including a prohibition on consuming alcohol.

Bushby had failed a breathalyzer test during a traffic stop, the board said. He had also failed to remain at the scene after he reversed a car into another vehicle, and was a suspect in a car theft investigation, it said in a report.

He also got a new tattoo of a Confederate flag, which the board said was widely linked to “racist ideologies.” Bushby, however, said he didn’t know what the tattoo artist was doing until the piece was done and questioned whether it was relevant to his case.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 18, 2026.

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press