Fatal stabbing with butcher knife deemed manslaughter
Judge rules prosecutor failed to prove woman intended to murder her victim
A woman who used a butcher knife to fatally stab a man on a Vancouver street has been acquitted of murder but found guilty of the lesser offence of manslaughter.
In November 2015, 23-yearold Sadie Taniskishayinew was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Robert Boucher, 31, near Station Street and National Avenue.
In reaching her verdict on Friday, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Susan Griffin said she found beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused had fatally stabbed the victim.
The judge said the only issue was whether the Crown had proven an intent to murder.
Court heard that before the slaying, Taniskishayinew and Boucher had been socializing with others in her apartment in the 1,000-block of Station Street.
In the early morning hours, Boucher, who was heavily intoxicated, left her suite with the accused following him outside.
Footage from a security camera showed them walking down the street. The fatal stabbing occurred out of the camera’s range.
Boucher was stabbed once in the left side with the butcher knife. He was found 20 minutes later, face down on the ground. He was taken to hospital but died of his injuries. Footage showed the accused returning to her apartment.
Police later seized the knife with Boucher’s blood on it in a garbage bin. The knife was similar to those found in a knife collection in the accused’s kitchen.
“I am persuaded beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused stabbed Mr. Boucher, which constitutes an unlawful act,” said the judge. “I am further satisfied that this unlawful act caused his death.”
The question then turned to what the accused’s intent was at the time of the incident, said the judge.
Griffin noted there was no evidence of what caused the accused to leave her apartment and accompany Boucher outside, as no one else in the apartment at the time was called as a witness.
There was evidence the accused had consumed alcohol, but the amount was unknown.
The Crown argued that, because of the nature of the deep stab wound, the evidence suggested she intended to harm him, and that she chose to bring a large knife and lure him outside the range of the security camera before stabbing him.
But the judge said there were several problems with the Crown’s submissions and a lack of evidence to support the inferences.
She said she accepted the accused grabbed a large knife, but added that it was possible she just took the knife that was closest at hand and that it didn’t mean she planned to kill the victim, since it was possible she took the weapon just to protect herself.
Griffin noted it wasn’t known what happened “in the heat of the moment.”
The judge ordered a report on Taniskishayinew’s Aboriginal background for sentencing, which is scheduled for Feb. 13.