Nunavut woman charged in 2016 stabbing attack went after partner with knife in 2010, Crown alleges

WARNING: This story contains details that some readers may find disturbing.

A Nunavut Crown prosecutor told an Iqaluit courtroom on Friday, Feb. 14, that a woman on trial for attacking her children with a knife in 2016, killing her daughter, went after her partner with a knife in 2010.

On his second day of cross-examining the woman, Barry McLaren told the court that the couple went to Churchill, Manitoba, for counselling in 2010.

Reading a report to the court, McLaren said records showed that while in Churchill, the woman had been to the nursing station after “having been involved in an assault of her common law husband, [name], with a knife.”

“Did you go after [partner’s name] with a knife at some point?” McLaren asked.

“No way,” the woman said, raising her voice slightly, sounding surprised.

The woman testified she did not remember attacking her partner, who is the father of her children, but that the couple was drinking that night.

“This is very surprising,” she said, looking down at the copy of the records McLaren was reading from.

As a result of that incident, the couple’s counselling was cut off, McLaren said.

The woman, whose name and any information that could identify the victims are protected under a publication ban, is charged with one count of second-degree murder and two counts of attempted murder on her three children that resulted in the death of her six-year-old daughter.

Second-degree murder is an intentional, unplanned killing that carries a sentence of life in prison with no parole for 10 years.

The other two children—one four years old and one four months old—recovered from the stab wounds after being medevaced to Winnipeg. The woman testified that she had also stabbed herself and was also medevaced and recovered.

The police arrested the accused woman on May 12, 2016, in her home after responding to a call. None of the allegations facing the woman have been proven in court.

On Friday, the court also heard more about the couple, including that they broke up several times over the course of their relationship.

The day before, during the beginning of his cross-examination, McLaren had questioned the woman about statements made by other witnesses during the trial. Those witnesses testified in Coral Harbour from Jan. 27 to Feb. 3. The trial resumed in Iqaluit last week.

McLaren told the court that witnesses had testified that the woman spoke about killing herself and her children before the incident took place.

“I have absolutely no memory of that,” the woman said.

“Someone saying, ‘Sometimes I feel like I’m going to kill myself and kill my kids,’ that’s the sort of thing that a very frustrated person would say, right? Or could say, not would say, would you agree?” McLaren asked.

“Yes,” she said,

“Comments about killing yourself, or killing yourself and your kids, sound like things that you would say when you got really frustrated, don’t they?”

“Possibly,” she said.

“In fact, [woman’s name], that’s what you did on May the 12, right?” McLaren asked, referring to the day of the alleged attack.

“Yes,” she said, after a pause.

McLaren again questioned the woman about her relationship with her partner, citing a transcript from a conversation between the woman and Gina Wong, a psychologist, in 2017. The woman told Wong that she wanted to wait until she was older to have children, but her husband “forced” her to have kids, McLaren read.

Focusing on the word, “forced,” McLaren argued that the woman’s partner had not forced her to have children, but had nagged her or had pressured her instead.

“When your English is not good, what appropriate word can you use? Forced, that’s the only thing I mainly knew … up until now,” the woman said.

The woman’s partner was charged and pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman two separate times, the court heard.

Earlier in her testimony, the woman told the court she had attempted suicide on two separate occasions. On Friday, in response to questioning from McLaren, the woman testified she attempted suicide about five days before the alleged knife attack on her children.

Earlier in the trial, a mental health nurse the woman had spoken to after the attack said the woman told him she had attacked her children because her partner was cheating on her.

“I think that what we have learned from you is that you felt that your life with [partner’s name] and your children was very hard. Would that be fair to say?” McLaren said.

“Yes.”

The woman also testified she felt her partner was controlling her in the months leading up to the attack.

Earlier in the trial, the woman had recounted the morning of the alleged attack and told the court she woke up to her partner poking her, who had a “look” on his face.

“I knew that look,” she said.

“Why do you go after your kids, unless you’re doing that to hurt [partner’s name]?” McLaren asked.

In response, the woman testified that she did not want to leave her children with her partner, who she said on several occasions kicked her out of the house and would not let her see the children.

“He was blocking you from becoming the person that you wanted to be, right? He was the man who made you have children and he brought your life to an end because you spent your time looking after kids, right?” McLaren said.

“Yes,” the woman said quietly.

McLaren suggested that because her partner had gone out the morning of the alleged attack, the woman saw her chance to commit the attack.

“You took advantage of that chance, didn’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I don’t have any other questions. Thank you,” McLaren said, looking up at Nunavut Justice Susan Charlesworth, the trial’s judge.

The trial continues on Thursday, Feb. 20, at the Nunavut Court of Justice for re-examination by the woman’s defence lawyers, Sarah White and Alison Crowe. Re-examination gives the witness an opportunity to explain any matters raised during cross-examination.

The trial is then expected to adjourn until July 2020, when Wong, whose conversations with the woman have been frequently used in cross-examination by the Crown, is expected to be called by the defence to testify over several days.