Woman gets six years for fatal stabbing

Judge considers personal circumstances, sentences woman to six years in prison

Having endured several days of a painful and frightening alcohol detox, Janet Leah Kurek finally gave up.

March 30, 2016 — four days after she started detoxing — found her severely intoxicated as she sat with others around Martin Raymond Oochoo’s table in his Muskowekwan First Nation home.

Kurek would later tell police she considered the man an uncle. So there was no obvious explanation for what caused her to get up from the table, grab a kitchen knife and stab the 53-year-old man once in the back.

Others helped a still-walking-and-talking Oochoo to the bedroom, believing his injury was not overly serious.

But shortly after, when someone went to look in on the man, he was dead. An autopsy would later reveal excessive blood loss resulted when his lung was punctured.

Kurek, initially charged with second-degree murder, has since pleaded guilty to manslaughter. On Friday, she returned to Regina Court of Queen’s Bench where Justice Catherine Dawson imposed sentence.

With Crown prosecutor Derek Davidson having asked for seven years less remand credit, and defence lawyer Dave Andrews five to six years less credit, Dawson decided six was appropriate. After remand credit, Kurek was left with two years, nine months — time Dawson recommended the woman be allowed to serve at the Maple Creek Healing Lodge.

Court heard 29-year-old Kurek had no previous criminal record, no history of violence, comes from a stable, supportive family and was considered gentle, kind and respectful in school. Her life changed when she ended up in a long-term, severely abusive relationship involving substance abuse by both partners.

Kurek eventually left that relationship and started seeing another man. As before, this relationship was impacted by severe alcohol and drug addiction — leading her partner’s brother to take the couple to Muskowekwan to try to detox them.

Court heard Kurek made it about four days, but became so ill from the withdrawal she needed help to walk and move around.

“During the period of withdrawal, she began to experience paranoia,” Dawson wrote in her 34-page decision. “She began to see images of things that were not there.”

After falling off the wagon, and stabbing her partner’s uncle, responding police noted the woman was saying strange things and were concerned she might be schizophrenic.

Dawson said a psychiatric assessment found evidence of both PTSD and anxiety. The psychiatrist also made observations about the circumstances surrounding the stabbing.

“Dr. (Mansfield) Mela indicated that at the time around the offence, Ms. Kurek was suffering from withdrawal from drugs and alcohol,” Dawson wrote. “She was confused about where she was. It was Dr. Mela’s opinion she was suffering paranoia and hallucinations and was seeing demons around the time of the offence.”

Kurek told the doctor she doesn’t hear voices or see images now that she’s incarcerated and drug-free. (She has been on remand since the offence.)

In sentencing the woman, Dawson spoke to the obvious seriousness of the offence and added Kurek’s self-caused state of intoxication did not mitigate the sentence. But, the judge said, she also needed to consider Kurek’s personal circumstances and what was going on at the time of the crime.

“Her attempts to detoxify herself resulted in paranoia and some form of hallucinations,” she wrote. “She had no animosity towards the victim and apparently did not, even at the time, realize what she had done. She now takes responsibility for her actions and apologized in court to the victim’s family.”

Oochoo’s family did not file victim impact statements.

Dawson noted Kurek is motivated to deal with her addictions and has taken advantage of all the programming she was able to access while on remand.