‘This is my beginning’

Former sex trade worker sentenced for stabbing john

At 35, Michelle Marie Francis has suffered the indignities of multiple abuses — emotional, sexual, physical, substance and those involving self-harm.

A child of parents who were residential school survivors, she learned early the effects of alcohol abuse, the sting of physical abuse, the heartbreak of being passed from one foster home to another while always wondering if life would ever offer something better.

She eventually followed the path of her mother into the sex trade business along with its usual associated components such as drug abuse.

While crack cocaine took away her pain, it left her homeless and jobless and turning tricks on the street seemed the only option to get money for more drugs.

Her vicious life circle came crashing down in September 2015 when she stabbed a “john” in the back in his Sydney home.

“She took a knife and went upstairs to the bedroom,” said provincial court Judge Alain Bégin, in passing sentence on Francis, who he had previously found guilty of assault causing bodily harm.

The judge said Francis was alone downstairs in the home at the time and could have easily walked out the door but instead chose to stab Douglas Barrett in reacting to rumours he was a bad john.

Bégin said while the court cannot condone vigilante justice and that Barrett was indeed the victim in the case, he was also a predator.

“He tried to portray himself as a Good Samaritan but the reality is different,” said Bégin, noting Barrett provided sex workers in his home with clean needle kits.

He said the relationship between a sex worker and a john is one of power and that while Barrett took advantage of that relationship, he could not condone what Francis had done.

In his victim impact statement, Barrett said he suffered a punctured lung and spent a week in hospital. He said he is now unable to perform some of his usual tasks such as cutting his own wood, shovelling the driveway and some household duties.

Defence lawyer Christa Thompson told the court Friday her client had been living in a van at the time of the incident and using public washrooms for personal hygiene purposes.

“Her judgment was clouded by her addiction. She was at a very low point when she got into that vehicle,” said Thompson, adding her vulnerability and her weakness were being exploited at the time.

Since her arrest, Francis has spent 200 days on remand and was given credit for the time in receiving a one-day jail sentence served by her presence in court.

She was also ordered to complete a two-year probation period during which she is to stay away from the victim and is not allowed to possess or consume any alcohol or drugs not prescribed to her by a physician. She is to submit to urinalysis testing and is not allowed to possess any weapons.

Francis is also to supply a DNA sample to the national registry and is banned for 10 years from possessing any weapons.

Bégin noted Francis has begun taking steps to upgrade her life and circumstances and will soon enrol in a treatment program focused on aboriginal offenders.

“She is not moving forward blindly for she knows what lies ahead,” said the judge, adding he hoped she wins her battle with her demons because she could become an asset for other women in her community.

“This is my beginning. Thank you for saving my life,” said Francis, at the end of the sentencing hearing.

“It wasn’t me, it was you,” replied Bégin.