A woman who stabbed her common-law husband to death in North Delta four years ago has been sentenced to five-and-a-half months in jail.
Beatrice Thomas was sentenced Monday (June 29) in B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
She was found guilty a year ago of manslaughter in the death of her partner Quannah O’Soup, 38. She was originally charged with second-degree murder.
Thomas and O’Soup were partying and doing drugs with a couple of friends on July 3, 2011 in their duplex near 115 Street and 80 Avenue when O’Soup was killed. The court heard O’Soup had turned up the music and Thomas was trying to stop him because her children were asleep. O’Soup ended up with a fatal stab wound to the chest that killed him almost instantly.
Though the judge agreed the night’s events weren’t entirely clear and some of testimony seemed unreliable, he dismissed the defence’s notion that the stabbing was self-defence.
On Monday, Thomas was sentenced to 165 days jail, plus a year-and-a-half probation and a 10-year firearms prohibition
Crown had recommended a two-year jail sentence.
At a sentencing hearing that began in late May, victim impact statements from O’Soup’s father, brother and five children (from a previous relationship) were read.
“There’s no words how I felt when I had to tell my mom and other siblings… no child should endure this,” said the oldest son.
The court heard Thomas, who has seven children but has little contact with the eldest five, is currently clean and sober and hopes to break the cycle of abuse that has afflicted her family.
In a pre-sentencing report, Thomas indicated she planned to appeal her conviction.
