Lawyers suggest Beverley Villeneuve serve 5 years for fatal stabbing

Both Crown and defence lawyers are asking for a sentence of five years for an N.W.T. woman who pleaded guilty to stabbing her partner to death.

Beverley Villeneuve has pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the June 2015 killing of 67-year-old Archie Paulette.

According to his family, the couple abused alcohol, and their relationship included a history of violence. Villeneuve is still facing charges of assault with a weapon and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose in relation to an attack on Paulette in December 2014.

According to the facts Villeneuve and the Crown have agreed on, on June 8, 2015, Villeneuve and Paulette were intoxicated and alone at his Ndilo residence after a family barbecue.

Villeneuve admits to stabbing Paulette in the back, despite not remembering the incident.

Paulette was stabbed at around 11 p.m. Villeneuve went to the neighbours to call for help, saying she didn't know what happened. She claimed to have been sleeping.

The neighbour didn't have a phone and he went to call for help from the boarding home in Ndilo.

• Beverley Villeneuve pleads guilty to manslaughter in death of Archie Paulette

When emergency services arrived, Paulette was sitting upright on the couch, as if he had passed out showing no vital signs. Paramedics discovered the wound, and RCMP found a blood-covered knife in the kitchen. DNA testing later identified the blood as belonging to Paulette.

Police arrested Villeneuve at the scene and reported that she told them "I am sorry. I don't know why I do these things."

Paulette was charged with second-degree murder two days later. She pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in August 2016.

Villeneuve didn't speak at the sentencing hearing on Monday. Her lawyer said Villeneuvewas adopted out of an alcoholic family and lived a large part of her life on the street. He quoted her as having said "I loved him. We lived together 24/7. I didn't know how to live without him."

Paulette's sister, Susan Chaffee, was in the courtroom and her victim impact statement was read aloud. Chaffee wrote that she is still angry about what happened, clinically depressed, and says she feels hollow without her brother. She said violent deaths are too common in her family.

The judge will deliver Villeneuve's sentence on Jan. 16.