Robyn Ermine shown being escorted from the courthouse following her sentencing hearing in 2017. (File photo/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Second sentence

Eight-year jail sentence for Muskoday woman who stabbed boyfriend

Jun 25, 2019 | 2:00 PM

A woman who stabbed her fiancé in the throat with a kitchen knife, during a domestic dispute, has been sentenced again after her appeal.

Robyn Laura Ermine from Muskoday First Nation pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of Evan Tylan Bear in February 2015. Ermine, who appeared June 19 at Prince Albert Court of Queen’s Bench, received an eight-year prison sentence but was granted 515 days for time spent in custody.

At the end of the original trial in May 2017, Ermine received the mandatory life sentence after she was convicted of second-degree murder, but her lawyer successfully appealed and the case was brought back to court.

This time around, Crown Prosecutor Jeff Lubyk asked for a nine-and-a-half year sentence. The defence was seeking a five-year sentence.

Lubyk told paNOW he was still satisfied with the judge’s decision, adding he felt it was both reasonable and well considered, given the circumstances of the incident.

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At her original trial, Ermine said she did not intend to kill Bear, and turned herself in to police one hour after his death. Ermine testified she grabbed an object from the counter without looking at it and swung it at her fiancé while he was choking her. The court also heard Ermine had cleaned part of the blood-stained kitchen floor with a mop while her step-sister performed CPR on Bear.

The couple had been fighting after a long night of drinking at their shared home on the First Nation.

—

nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell

Editor’s note: paNOW previously used the word ‘slit’ to describe the fatal cut wound, but has changed the wording to reflect testimony described in the earlier trial proceedings.