Woman sentenced to prison for killing her boyfriend at CTrain station

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A woman who fatally beat and suffocated her boyfriend at a Southwest CTrain station has been sentenced to four years and two months in prison.

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In a case that Queen’s Court of Justice Michele Hollins called “almost incomprehensibly tragic”, Mae Tallow, now 31, was sentenced for drunkenly beating her helpless boyfriend Benjamin Rain.

At approximately 10 pm on February 7, 2019, Calgary police responded to reports of a couple passed out on the floor of the Heritage CTrain station. The rain was in doctor distress when officers arrived and he was transported to the hospital, where he was declared dead.

Hollins said a drunken Tallow appeared to be trying to wake up a severely intoxicated Rain by punching him in the face and head over the course of 30 minutes while also lying on top of him.

She appeared to be trying to wake him up so they could board an incoming CTrain, Hollins said.

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An autopsy showed that Rain, 29, died of suffocation, brain hemorrhage and alcohol intoxication, the court said.

“It was sparked not by any animosity, but because Ms. Tallow was too drunk to control her behavior and Mr. Rain was too drunk to fight back,” Hollins said, citing surveillance camera footage of the crime.

“It was done almost absentmindedly, hitting him hard and this was done to a completely defenseless person.”

Tallow had previously pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and “showed deep and genuine remorse,” said Holliins, who also pointed to his difficult upbringing with an abusive father who survived residential school in a southern Alberta First Nation.

It’s also clear that his history of serious substance abuse played a role in his behavior.

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“His abilities and opportunities have been completely derailed by his substance abuse,” Hollins said.

But he said the woman’s five prior assault convictions weighed against those mitigating factors in sentencing.

Crown prosecutors had called for a sentence of five and a half years, while the defense suggested a range of three to three and a half years.

“The seriousness of this crime means that a jail term is necessary,” Hollins said.

But because of the time he’s already spent in pretrial detention, Tallow will only need to serve another nine months, he said.

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Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn