SYDNEY, N.S. – A woman dubbed the “Black Widow” is back in a Nova Scotia court today for recommendations on sentencing after she pleaded guilty to drugging her newlywed husband.

Seventy-eight-year-old Melissa Ann Shepard pleaded guilty Monday to administering a noxious thing and failing to provide the necessities of life to 75-year-old Fred Weeks.

An original charge of attempted murder was dropped.

Crown prosecutor Gerald MacDonald says some people in the public may have hoped for more serious charges, but that doesn’t change the facts before him in the present case.

Shepard faces a maximum sentence of two years for the charge of administering a noxious thing and 18 months for failing to provide the necessities of life.

She was charged last fall after Weeks fell ill at a bed and breakfast in Cape Breton and was admitted to hospital on Sept. 29, four days after they were wed in a civil ceremony.

The marriage was later ruled to be invalid by the provincial government.

She is known as the “Black Widow” or the “Internet Black Widow” because she has a number of prior convictions stemming from her past relationships.