B.C. judge hands Kamloops woman a suspended sentence for stabbing ex-boyfriend

KAMLOOPS, B.C. – A Kamloops, B.C., woman who stabbed her ex-boyfriend during an argument in 2012 has been sentenced to two years probation and is barred from contacting the man.

The court heard Michelle Foreman stabbed Timothy Grahn during an argument in Grahn’s trailer. She pleaded guilty in Kamloops provincial court to aggravated assault.

The court heard Foreman was drunk at the time of the stabbing.

The Crown had requested a three-year prison sentence.

Conditional sentence orders, house-arrest terms, are no longer available on aggravated assault convictions. Instead, Kamloops provincial court Judge Stella Frame had to decide between a custody term of up to 36 months or a suspended sentence with probation.

She chose the latter, citing Foreman’s good behaviour while on bail.

"While it would have been more appropriate to have put the significant consequences of a conditional sentence order in place, I am satisfied that I can suspend passing of the sentence and impose a period of probation with terms that are strict enough to emphasize the important principles of the sentencing of denunciation and deterrence while continuing Ms. Foreman on her path of rehabilitation," Frame said.

Frame placed Foreman on a strict curfew for six months and banned her from drinking for the full two-year term.