On Nov. 4, a 61-year old Winnipeg man was sentenced to three years of supervised probation and 11 months of already spent jail time for shooting his wife in the face.

The conditions of the probation are to abstain from alcohol use and to receive substance abuse counselling. His firearm has also been disposed of.

As the court has placed a publication ban on the case, The Uniter is unable to name the accused or the victim.

The act of violence took place two years prior to the court hearing, while the man was severely intoxicated. Miraculously, the 60-year-old victim survived to call the police. Later, she pleaded in court to keep her husband out of jail.

The victim did not sustain any life-threatening injuries and recovered completely.

“It’s an interesting sentence because we have a zero-tolerance law for domestic abuse in Canada,” said Ang Braun, co-chair of Manitoba Association of Women’s Shelters (MAWS).

Braun explained that in abusive relationships, the abuser dismantles the self-esteem of the abused so she will be afraid to make changes. When these self-esteem patterns become ingrained, the abused might even defend her abuser.

The zero-tolerance policy exists so the accused will be convicted even if he is defended.

“Years ago – at a shelter I worked at – we had a woman who had been in an abusive relationship and insisted there was no problem,” Braun said. “Most women minimize the situation. The woman in this case may not understand how these patterns of abuse are created.”

However, Mark Kantor, Crown prosecutor, found no evidence of history of abuse. Kantor also declared that the zero-tolerance policy was effective.

“The confusion might be a matter of (Winnipeg Free Press) semantics,” said Kantor. “He was indeed convicted of criminal negligence, causing bodily harm and of breaching a court order by not abstaining from consumption of alcohol.”

A Winnipeg Free Press article about the case stated that the accused received no jail time. However, he had been in pre-trial detention for five-and-a-half months, which is now considered part of his sentence.

In the recent hearing, the accused was given double credit for his time spent in jail.

“The only way a provincial sentence can be justified is if one accepts and puts great emphasis on the lack of malice,” said Judge Kelly Moar during the hearing.

“In my view, it is rare that a non-penitently sentence is carried out when someone is shot in the face. However, having heard his family’s statements it seems to me that the accused is truly remorseful and has taken proactive steps to deal with the issues that lead to this event.”

An overwhelming amount of affiliates of the accused came forward to the court to assert his good character. This included the head of an alcoholic’s recovery program who stated that the accused went beyond the expectations of a typical client.

“Since the first day she was in the hospital, the wife who was shot had taken the view that this was an accident,” said Kantor during the first hearing. “Neither her (nor) her family have ever wanted to be part of the persecution.”

Published in Volume 65, Number 12 of The Uniter (November 18, 2010)