Iqaluit woman to serve house arrest for manslaughter

IQALUIT — Stressing that his decision is not to be interpreted as a precedent, Justice Robert Kilpatrick on March 9 imposed a nine-month conditional sentence on Mary Deschenes of Iqaluit for the unintentional killing of her live-in boyfriend, Gilles Bergeron.

Under a form of house arrest, Deschenes, 40, must remain inside her one-bedroom Iqaluit housing-authority unit until Aug. 9, 2001, pay a $750 victims’ surcharge fine, and perform 100 hours of community service work.

A six-man, six-woman jury convicted Deschenes of manslaughter last October, after she stood trial on a charge of second-degree murder.

On April 23, 1999, Bergeron, 34, turned up dead inside Deschene’s residence. A forensic pathologist who gave evidence at the trial said Bergeron died of a 13-centimetre knife wound that pierced his heart so deeply the weapon compressed his chest and left hilt-marks around the edges of the wound.

But Kilpatrick said he found that the stabbing was a single act of outrage and powerlessness, which Deschenes committed in response to the physical and mental abuse that Bergeron had inflicted upon her for months.

“Mary Deschenes did not initiate the physical aggression… it was Gilles Bergeron,” Kilpatrick said.

Evidence admitted in court during Deschenes’ trial and sentencing hearing showed that Bergeron was an abusive philanderer with an ugly temper, especially when he drank.

While living with Deschenes, Bergeron once threatened to kill his estranged wife in Rankin Inlet rather than pay child support to her.

Before moving to Iqaluit, Bergeron had been convicted of uttering death threats to his wife. After serving a weekends-only jail sentence for the offence, he was required to leave Rankin Inlet under the terms of a court order.

Deschenes didn’t find out about Bergeron’s wife until after she started living with him in 1998.

On April 10, 1999, just 12 days before his death, Bergeron was arrested for assaulting Deschenes. But police dropped the charge after Deschenes withdrew her complaint in response to a promise from Bergeron that he wouldn’t hurt her any more.

On April 22, Deschenes and Bergeron went out to the Navigator Inn and the Royal Canadian Legion, where they both became highly intoxicated.

Deschenes arrived home first and fell asleep in the bedroom. But she woke up to find Bergeron attacking her in a fit of jealousy.

After retreating to the bathroom to cool off, Deschenes walked out and stood at the top of a set of steps that overlook her living room. She saw Bergeron lying on her couch with a knife tucked between his arm and torso. He had used it to cut up Deschene’s telephone cord.

She walked down to the living room and seized the knife in an attempt to return it to the kitchen. But Bergeron blocked her path, and the struggling couple fell to the floor.

It was during that confused encounter that Deschenes drove the knife into Bergeron’s chest.

“It was Gilles Bergeron who set in motion the chain of events that led to his death,” Kilpatrick said.

After receiving the wound, Bergeron staggered to the porch and fell backwards just as he got to the outside door. He was probably dead before his head hit the floor.

Kilpatrick found that Deschenes soon realized the “enormity of what she had done,” and made phone calls to various family members and to Iqaluit’s emergency dispatcher.

But he said the jury’s guilty verdict is a rejection of the idea that Bergeron’s death was accidental, or that Deschenes acted in self-defence.

“I find that the fatal blow was an act done in anger, not self-defence,” Kilpatrick said. “She lost her self-control in circumstances of extreme provocation.”

During her period of house arrest, Deschenes may leave her residence between 1-3 p.m. every day. At other times she will require the written permission of her supervisor to leave her residence.

Kilpatrick also imposed a long list of other conditions that Deschenes must observe.

She is not allowed to consume any intoxicant or enter a licenced establishment. She may, however, enter a licenced restaurant for the purpose of buying food.

She must undergo a psychological assessment, and receive alcohol abuse and anger-management counselling. She must also report regularly to her supervisor, present herself at her front door whenever a police officer comes to her unit, and remain in Iqaluit.

Kilpatrick stressed that his sentencing decision is not “precedential,” and that he tailored the disposition to fit the unique circumstances of Deschenes’ case.

In addition to the other measures, Kilpatrick also imposed a mandatory ban that prohibits Deschenes from owning or possessing any firearms for 10 years.