Woman’s attacker spared jail to care for wife with vision loss

A Saskatoon man who hit a woman with a hammer before stabbing her will serve his jail sentence in the community so that he can care for his visually impaired wife.

The jointly proposed conditional sentence of two years less a day takes into account that Robert Walter Barycki is the full-time caretaker of his wife, Crown prosecutor Jaimie MacLean told court.

Barycki, 59, was sentenced on Tuesday in Saskatoon provincial court after he pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with a weapon against the same woman on June 25, 2015.

He went to the victim’s residence looking for her partner, who he said owed him money, according to the Crown. MacLean said Barycki threatened to hit the woman with a hammer, left, then came back and struck her in the face with the weapon.

He then tried stabbing the woman in her stomach, but the blade pierced her foot, which she used to block the attack, court heard.

Witnesses reported seeing Barycki get out of a car with a hammer and walk into a suite, followed by loud noises and a woman yelling: “I don’t have the money.” Barycki told court he was “broke” and that the victim and her partner owed him money. He said he apologized to the woman when they ran into each other later.

“I’m so sorry it happened,” he said in court. The victim has been difficult to locate and did not submit an impact statement, MacLean said.

Barycki also pleaded guilty to threatening a police officer during his arrest. He said that, when he learned police were looking for him, he “guzzled down a bottle of booze.” Although he doesn’t remember threatening the officer, Barycki doesn’t dispute it, either.

Defence lawyer Michael Buchinski said his client hasn’t consumed alcohol since the incident. He argued the assault falls on the lower end of the spectrum. “I don’t consider stabbing someone to be ‘low end,’ ” Judge Bria Huculak said before accepting the proposed conditional sentence.

Barycki’s conditions include a curfew, no alcohol, and participating in addiction counselling.