Woman charged in fatal Vanier stabbing was previously accused of stabbing husband

A woman charged in a fatal stabbing in Ottawa's Vanier neighbourhood last month was previously accused of stabbing her husband in the United States, CBC has confirmed. 

Elianne Assinewai, 58, was charged with second-degree murder after Jean Cowie, 50, was stabbed to death in a Ste. Monique Street apartment on Oct. 28. 

CBC is now able to report that the same woman stabbed her then husband James Raymond Assinewai numerous times during a 2011 domestic dispute in Fort Covington, N.Y. 

New York State Police told CBC that on March 4, 2011, they responded to a call to a Water Street apartment in Fort Covington, about 20 kilometres from the international border crossing at Cornwall, Ont.

"An investigation determined that Elianne Assinewai, [then] 44, of Fort Covington, stabbed James R. Assinewai, during a domestic dispute," a public information officer wrote in an emailed statement.

"Elianne Assinewei was arrested and charged with Assault 1st degree and arraigned in the town of Malone Court."

CBC was able to establish it was the same woman through court records.

Use of force justified

Assinewai walked free after the 2011 stabbing, after a grand jury accepted that her use of force was justified by reason of self-defence, CBC has confirmed.

A grand jury is an investigative body used by some U.S. states that decides whether criminal charges should be brought.

A source involved in the 2011 investigation told CBC that the grand jury accepted that Assinewai was acting in self-defence after her attorney took the unusual step of having her testify. 

Her testimony was corroborated by a neighbour who reported hearing sounds of domestic violence, according to the source, who asked to withhold their name as they were not authorized to brief media. 

While the husband's injuries were initially thought to be life-threatening, he later recovered. He has subsequently died, CBC has verified.

Both parties were extremely intoxicated when first responders arrived, the source said, adding that police had previously been called to the residence after receiving reports of domestic violence. 

After charges against Assinewai were dropped, her police file was sealed, CBC has established. The Franklin County district attorney's office declined to provide information to CBC.

'Bloodbath and beyond'

But a sister of James Raymond Assinewai said her family never accepted that their brother's wife was acting in self-defence. 

"We didn't believe it," Tammy Assinewai told CBC. 

Michael Cunningham owned the apartment the Assinewais rented in Fort Covington in 2011. 

He recalled that the couple had met online and had not lived in town for long before the stabbing. He remembered them as a friendly couple who shared food with him one Thanksgiving. 

"She was very nice when they weren't drinking but when they started drinking they started fighting," he told CBC. 

After the stabbing, Cunningham was left to clean the apartment, which he said had blood stains on the walls, floor and ceiling. 

"It was a horrible thing. I had to rename the apartment: I called it 'bloodbath and beyond,'" he said.

Assinewai's current lawyer Dawn Dickinson declined to comment to CBC.