Two brothers have been found guilty of forcible confinement following a brief trial in a packed Whitehorse courtroom.

One night last summer, Wilfred Sheldon, 38, and Derek Johnson, 33, grabbed Collin Johnson as he was leaving a home in Burwash Landing, where the men had been drinking and talking for the last hour or two.

They pinned him against a wall inside the house, and ignored his requests for them to let him go. Then they slammed the door.

Further details of that night, Aug. 8, 2013, are unknown. Collin committed suicide five months later.

Sheldon, a former chief of the Kluane First Nation, and his brother, Derek Johnson, pleaded not guilty to forcible confinement.

The one-day trial heard from just two witnesses: Austin Dickson, nephew to the accused and cousin to the victim, and Claudia Bob, Sheldon’s fiancée.

Dickson was with Collin that night. They drove over to Johnson’s house at about 10 p.m., and drank a couple of beers with Sheldon and Dickson’s brother.

The mood at the home was good, Dickson said, with the men all getting along.

He and Collin decided to leave and headed out to his truck. But Dickson forgot his sunglasses and returned to the house with Collin.

It was on the way out that Sheldon and Johnson grabbed Collin by the shoulders and pushed him against the wall.

It was “heated,” Dickson said, and they told Collin, “You ain’t going nowhere.”

Dickson tried to intervene, but the brothers pushed him out of the house and slammed the door, he said.

He heard three nails being hammered into the door – it didn’t lock properly, and Johnson often used nails.

After that, Dickson drove home and went to bed. He saw Collin the next day, and the young man had a gash on his wrist, bloodshot eyes, and bruises on his neck, “like a rope or some sort of wire wrapped around his neck,” Dickson said.

But Bob testified that she picked up Sheldon from Johnson’s house the next morning.

Collin and Johnson were both in the living room, and she said she saw no injuries on Collin, nor any blood or rope in the home.

She saw Collin again, later that day at a party, and didn’t notice any injuries. He seemed to be getting along well with Johnson, who was also there.

Justice Colleen Kenny accepted both witnesses’ evidence, but said the central question was whether Collin had been physically restrained against his wishes.

“He asked to leave and was prevented from doing so,” Kenny said this morning in her decision.

“We don’t know what happened after Austin left, but he was clearly restrained from leaving.”

As she gave her verdict, there was a brief smattering of applause from the gallery, where about 50 people had gathered.

Burwash Landing is a tiny community, home to fewer than 100 people. Dickson testified that most residents are related to each other.

This incident caused tension in Burwash and triggered violent events: days later, Weldon Danroth broke into Johnson’s house and beat him with an aluminum baseball bat.

He was seriously injured and medevaced to Whitehorse for treatment.

Danroth is serving 18 months in jail for his role in the retaliatory assault. Charges laid against Collin’s brother in relation to the same incident were stayed.

Dickson also testified he was beaten up by Collin’s brother days after the original incident.

Referring to this assault, defence lawyer David Tarnow discredited Dickson’s testimony.

“You only started to say these events happened at Derek Johnson’s door after you were beaten up by Randy Johnson and threatened by others that you better say something,” Tarnow said.

He added he thought the young man made up his testimony to avoid further threats.

Dickson told the RCMP in January 2014 about what he’d seen that night.

The trial had been scheduled to take place in Burwash.

It was relocated to Whitehorse after Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale heard evidence that Bob was concerned for her and Sheldon’s safety.

She testified at that hearing, held last June, that there’s a long-standing division in the community between two Johnson families.

Alcohol and violence are prevalent. She said since Sheldon was charged, she’d been harassed.

Crown prosecutor Keith Parkkari said during those proceedings that Collin’s family blames the two men for his suicide.

Both Johnson and Sheldon were ordered to stay out of Burwash while the case is before the court.

They faced other charges that have since been dropped, including assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm.

Tarnow requested time for pre-sentence reports to be made.

Collin’s family will also give a victim impact statement. Sentencing has been tentatively scheduled for Jan. 23.