Stabbing outside downtown bar nets two-year sentence

A Manitoba judge sentenced a Waywayseecappo First Nation man to two years behind bars for stabbing a woman in downtown Brandon, acknowledging he was likely repeating behaviour modelled to him at a young age.

The typical sentencing range for offenders in a similar circumstance as 21-year-old David Medicine is between two and four years in custody, and provincial court Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta opted for the low end after factoring in Medicine’s history of being stabbed and witnessing at least one fatal stabbing in his lifetime.

“It’s not an excuse for behaving badly, but it does help us to understand how you might be so angry and so quick to lash out,” Hewitt-Michta said in court on Tuesday. “But it’s your responsibility to do something about that and to get the help that you need so that you can manage these issues.”

Medicine pleaded guilty this summer to aggravated assault in the Feb. 13 incident when he got into a fight while intoxicated outside the City Centre Hotel bar and stabbed a stranger in the chest, Crown attorney Yaso Mathu said.

The victim “could have died” and had a 1.5-inch-long wound to her upper right abdomen, Mathu said. She suffered a hemothorax and an atrial laceration, requiring her to have surgery in Winnipeg and two tubes inserted into her chest for multiple days.

“We’re lucky that, you know, she didn’t suffer more serious injuries here, and I think it would be trite of me to say that this was a traumatic event for her,” Mathu said.

“She has not provided us with a victim impact statement, and we do not know where she is today. But I would imagine that wherever she is, she is trying to move on with her life and put this behind her.”

Mathu said the fight involved a group of four to six people. Medicine indicated in his pre-sentence report that he doesn’t remember the brawl due to being heavily intoxicated, except for the victim and her boyfriend having insulted him inside the establishment prior to the fight.

Mathu suggested his ability to recall this detail contradicts his admission of being too intoxicated to remember anything.

After Medicine stabbed the woman, he discarded the knife in the snow near the smoking area and ran back inside the bar. Police arrived on scene and provided immediate medical care to the woman, who initially hadn’t realized she had been stabbed due to how quickly the assault happened, Mathu said.

Police located the knife in the snow and spoke with several suspects including Medicine, who was patted down by police, revealing an empty knife sheath hanging out of his hoodie pocket, Mathu said. Medicine has been in custody since his arrest that day.

The Crown recommended Medicine face a two-and-a-half-year sentence minus 384 days of enhanced credit for time served, accounting for systemic and background factors such as substance use, the intergenerational impact of residential schools and the psychological impact of other traumas.

Mathu said the Crown would normally seek a three-year prison sentence in this circumstance but was mindful of the offender’s Gladue factors that shaped the choices he made.

In her submissions, defence lawyer Jennifer Janssens recalled how Medicine phoned her while in police custody on the night of the assault and was distraught, remorseful and “extremely emotional” because of his actions.

“He wasn’t able to see the surveillance video, and that’s related to his own trauma that he’s experienced seeing, related to violence and other stabbings. And there was some fear that seeing a video would sort of exacerbate that issue,” Janssens said.

She described the stabbing as a “quick jab,” noting that someone had handed Medicine the weapon before the attack.

Medicine has a traumatic past that involves grieving the fatal stabbing of his father in 2020, the death of the mother to one of his children in 2025 and witnessing the 2023 fatal stabbing of his friend in an incident when he was also stabbed.

Medicine was charged with contempt of court for refusing to testify as a key witness in the manslaughter trial earlier this year related to the death of his friend.

Janssens said Medicine intends to distance himself from a criminal lifestyle. She suggested a sentence of 18 months.

Medicine, who was teary-eyed during the court hearing, apologized and said he has learned from his actions.

“I’ve been through a lot too as a kid,” he said. “I never really wanted to choose this life, but from seeing what my uncles and all them do, then that’s what got me.”

Medicine said he also plans to stop hanging around people who have a bad influence on him.

The judge explained to the offender how she was required to impose a sentence that sends a “clear message” to him and others that what he did was terrible and results in prison time.

“Rehabilitation, in my view, is also a consideration here and part of my job because you’re so young, and because there’s a lot of things in your background that contribute to where you end up today,” Hewitt-Michta said.

Medicine will spend another 346 days in custody, followed by a 10-year weapons prohibition and two-year probation order, with conditions to participate in counselling and not contact the victim or attend the City Centre Hotel bar.

“There’s too many young … Indigenous men sitting in jail across the country. And don’t be another one, OK?” Hewitt-Michta said.

“Don’t allow yourself to go down that path any further than you already have.”

» tadamski@brandonsun.com