Prince Albert Provincial Court. Photo by Chelsea Laskowski.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains graphic content that may disturb some readers.
On Friday, a Weyakwin man was found guilty of trying to kill his now-estranged partner, but will remain out on bail until his May sentencing.
Matthew Warren Lavallee, 27, was present in Prince Albert court with family members while the decision was read out in relation to the charge of attempted murder against his former partner. This took place Feb. 27, 2016 at a Weyakwin home after a night of drinking.
Trial testimony revealed Lavallee lashed out after catching the woman – who he has two children with – in bed with another man.
Lavallee punched the other man, who ran out of the home, and then sat down on the woman’s stomach, pulled out a folding knife and “told her that he wanted to watch her die” before stabbing her 14 times, Judge S.D. Schiefner wrote in his interpretation of the trial evidence.
The cuts to the vulnerable areas on the woman’s body including her jugular, wrist, eye, and ankles shows Lavallee has “an intention to maximize the weapon’s lethality by targeting particular areas of (the woman’s) body,” Schiefner wrote.
The attack stopped when “Lavallee heard someone banging on the doors of the house,” he added.
The woman’s sister had testified she then found her “lying on the floor by her bed bleeding profusely and too weak to walk” before emergency services were called. Now, the victim has limited functioning in one of her hands because of how badly her tendon was cut, and has no vision in one eye.
Lavallee spoke in his own defence at trial, saying he did not wanted to kill the woman at the time and was not “in a right state of mind” because he was intoxicated, high and in a rage at the time.
Schiefner wrote there was not enough evidence of intoxication from either drugs or alcohol, and finding a partner in bed with “another lover is not sufficient to deprive an ordinary adult the power of self-control.”
In court, the judge said he does not accept Lavallee’s testimony as reliable and credible, and he was satisfied beyond a reasonable doubt that Lavallee had intended to kill the woman.
“In fact sir, based on circumstances and medical reports you were almost successful in killing her,” Schiefner told Lavallee.
Lavallee had been out on bail since soon after the stabbing, first living in Regina and most recently in Prince Albert.
Schiefner raised the issue of whether or not Lavellee should remain out on bail until his sentencing takes place in a few months now that his presumption of innocence is gone.
He has not breached his conditions at all, his defence counsel pointed out.
The Crown raised issues with Lavallee living so close to Weyakwin where his former partner lives, as does the man he found her in bed with. The Crown also said the knowledge that Lavallee could face a lengthy prison sentence increases his chance of being a flight risk.
Schiefner accepted a plan were Lavallee moves back to Regina to live with a cousin for the next few months.