Woman convicted of manslaughter in stabbing
A woman who stabbed Patrick Dong six times in the leg and left him in a ditch southwest of Saskatoon when she was 17 years old has been acquitted of first-degree murder, but convicted of manslaughter.
Justice Shawn Smith gave his written decision on Wednesday afternoon following a two-week trial at Saskatoon Court of Queen’s Bench in December. He said the Crown failed to prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, the intent required for murder.
The now 20-year-old woman cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act because she was underage when the offence occurred. However, the Crown wants her sentenced as an adult. A pre-sentence report has been ordered and a sentencing hearing is scheduled for May 16.
When she was 18 years old, the teen told police she had stabbed Dong after beating him on a rural road, but that she didn’t mean to kill him. A year and a half later, she testified that she spontaneously stabbed Dong so he wouldn’t come after her. She said she didn’t know he had died until she was charged with first-degree murder in June 2017, eight months after Dong’s body was found near Valley Road on Oct. 23, 2016.
“It is clear (the accused) never had the intent to cause bodily harm to Mr. Dong that she knew would likely cause his death and was reckless whether death ensued or not,” Smith wrote.
If the woman had been convicted of second-degree murder, the Crown said the charge would be elevated to first-degree because it was done in the commission of a kidnapping and unlawful confinement.
The Crown argued Dong was forced from a home on Avenue D South and trapped in a truck before being driven into the country. Smith found the woman guilty of unlawfully confining Dong during the attack, but not guilty of kidnapping. In his decision, he said the evidence did not rule out the possibility that Dong voluntarily got into the truck, thinking he was being driven home.
During her trial, the woman said she didn’t know Dong but tagged along with a group of people threatening to leave him outside the city unless he confessed to stealing her friend’s property. Dong denied the allegation, court heard.
The truck’s driver, Claude Louis Gauthier, pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to seven years for his role in Dong’s death.
A Saskatoon police officer said 80 interviews were conducted before investigators discovered how Dong got from the Avenue D home to the RM of Corman Park.
When they charged Gauthier after matching his truck tires to tracks found near Dong’s body, the man’s wife told investigators her sister had been in the truck with Gauthier, the teen girl and another man, who is still before the court charged with first-degree murder.