Brandon woman sentenced to jail after stabbing partner in front of children

WARNING: This story contains details of intimate partner violence.

A Brandon woman who pleaded guilty to attempted murder after stabbing her partner three times in front of their children last year was sentenced to a little over 4½ years on Tuesday.

"Two of those strikes were to the victim's neck, a point of vulnerability. That he was not more seriously injured was a matter of luck, not design," the judge said in her decision.

It was a serious incident of premeditated intimate partner violence perpetrated by a 28-year-old woman with schizoaffective and cannabis use disorder that "fall short of exempting her from criminal responsibility," Manitoba provincial court Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said in a written decision.

"The domestic violence context compounds the gravity of this offence as does the presence of children."

The written decision said the accused and her partner, who had an on-and-off relationship over the span of 10 years, planned to take their two children to the mall in Brandon on March 18 last year. CBC is not naming her to avoid identifying the victim.

The accused concealed a knife in her clothing before meeting her partner, who was waiting outside her mother's house with the two children. When her partner turned his back toward her, she stabbed him twice in the neck and once in the torso in front of their children.

She left the knife in the yard after she stabbed him and took one of their children inside the house. 

Police arrested the woman shortly after the stabbing. She told police she wanted to kill her partner because he had "crossed a line."

The victim filed a victim impact statement for himself and the two children, in which he described experiencing ongoing cramping sensations in his neck, a loss of trust in others and traumatic memories of the stabbing, the written decision said. 

He said the children miss their mother and do not understand her absence, but neither he nor the children are afraid of her. They believe she poses no danger as long as she takes her medication. 

Hewitt-Michta said she considered sentencing reports that detailed a history of family violence during the accused's childhood, before she moved in with the victim at 18 and left post-secondary education when she became pregnant. 

The woman and the victim were living apart for the last three years of their relationship, the court document said. 

Both reports said the woman described her relationship as unhealthy and violent, with incidents of emotional, physical, and sexual assault perpetrated by her partner, the judge said. 

She also admitted she was previously arrested for assaulting her partner and then breaching a court order.

A few weeks before the stabbing, the woman reported not taking her prescribed medication and having conflict with her partner over their relationship and spending time with their children, including his demands for sex in exchange for seeing them, the decision said.

She "felt increasingly hateful towards herself and the victim" and was angry the night before the stabbing, and she started to think about stabbing him, the court document said.

Following the arrest, the accused spent several months in custody. She followed a treatment order and was eventually deemed fit to stand trial. 

The judge said the accused has been participating in programming and upgrading her education while in custody at the Women's Correctional Centre in Headingley, Man. She takes her medication, is considered a low risk to reoffend, has no criminal record and is motivated to improve her life for her children, Hewitt-Michta said in the document. 

"Her moral blameworthiness is reduced but not insignificant," the judge said. 

"The sentence imposed here must clearly communicate the serious view courts take of intimate partner violence and the probability that significant punitive consequences will attach."

The judge said attempted murder is a heinous offence punishable with up to a life sentence in prison. 

Crown attorney Grant Hughes argued for a penitentiary sentence of six years minus the time already served. Defence lawyer Anthony Kavanagh urged the court to impose a sentence closer to 4½ years including time served, which would allow the accused to remain at the Women's Correctional Centre, where she appears to be making rehabilitative progress. 

The woman was sentenced to a little over 4½ years in jail minus more than 2½ years with the enhanced credit for time served, which means she has two years less a day left in her sentence, allowing her to remain in the provincial jail. She will then have three years of supervised probation with multiple conditions, including no contact with the victim except for seeing their children or communications with the approval of a probation officer. 

The woman must also complete counselling and programming related to anger management, intimate partner violence and substance abuse, the court document said.

For anyone affected by family or intimate partner violence, there is support available through crisis lines and local support services. ​​If you're in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.