Judge needs more time to sentence man who fatally stabbed 'kind and loving' girlfriend

A Winnipeg judge says he needs more time to decide on an appropriate sentence for a man convicted of fatally stabbing his girlfriend in a seemingly unprovoked attack inside her suite at a Victor Street rooming house.

Ronald Alvin Thomas said nothing when given the chance to speak at his sentencing hearing on Thursday. A jury convicted Thomas in February of manslaughter in the death of 44-year-old Beatrice Ann Crane, who died of a single stab wound on Nov. 21, 2014.

Crown prosecutor Melissa Hazelton said Thomas, who has a prior manslaughter conviction from 1990, shouldbe sentenced to 15 years. Defence counsel Greg Brodsky asked for four to six years.

Court of Queen's bench Justice Christopher Martin said there were no case precedents included in the pre-sentence submissions that supported either the Crown or defence recommendations.

I wish I was there holding your hand and telling you that you are not alone.- Mary Muskego, Crane's sister

"I have some serious concerns about some of the positions that have been taken by both the Crown and the defence and I want to give that some further thought," Martin said.

Martin said he will deliver his decision on June 7. In the meantime, he asked both Crown and defence to take some time and try to come up with case precedents.

Sentence should 'send a message': Crown

Most cases submitted by Hazeltonin the pre-sentence reportarrived at sentences around eight years, and even with aggravating factors considered, higher sentences tend to be in the range of 10-12 years, Martin said.

Hazelton said none of those cases involved someone with a prior manslaughter conviction.

"This is the second time that Mr. Thomas is before the court being sentenced for taking someone's life. And so from the Crown's perspective, a sentence of eight years is nowhere near appropriate, and a significant increase from that is needed to send a message to Mr. Thomas," she said.

After stabbing Crane, 43-year-old Thomas called 911, but claimed he didn't know how she had been injured, then fled to his suite before police arrived. Officers found Crane sitting upright in a with a single stab wound in her side.

There were no signs of a struggle inside the suite and no one else in the house heard a fight.

"What the court has is an unprovoked attack on an individual who, for all we know, was sitting in the chair at the time,"Hazeltonsaid.

Victim 'gave what she had,' sister says

In a written victim impact statement, Crane's older sister, Mary Muskego, said Crane was a mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and friend, as well as "a kind and loving person, who gave what she had, even though she did not have much.

"It's so hard thinking about how alone you must have felt when you took your last breath. I wish I was there holding your hand and telling you that you are not alone," Muskego said.

"I felt another wound when I heard how they had found you sitting in a chair. How many hours did you suffer? How long did you wait for the help that never came?"

Brodsky pushed back at Hazelton's claim that the attack was unprovoked, arguing no one knows what happened before the fight. No motive has been put forward by the Crown.

"We don't know where that knife came from that was used to stab the victim. We just don't know where it came from, or how long the person who first produced ithad it. There's nothing there," Brodsky said.

Another factor to consider when deciding on the sentence is the fact that Crane is an Indigenous woman, Hazelton said.

Thomas is also Indigenous and a Gladue report which outlines special considerations for Indigenous offenders in sentencing mentions that poverty, racism, violence, loss of family, drug alcohol, loss of culture are factors to consider in his sentence.