The sentence was twice the three-year term agreed upon by prosecutors and defense attorneys.
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A Calgary judge on Thursday rejected a Crown defense joint sentencing agreement for the killer of a homeless hitchhiker as too lenient and imposed a six-year sentence.
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The sentence, handed down by Provincial Court Judge Bruce Fraser, was double the three-year term agreed to by prosecutors and defense attorneys for Ronita Wildman, who pleaded guilty to the fatal stabbing of David Graburn Bawden on Oct. 2020.
It also threw out the deal that could have seen Wildman, now 40, withdraw his guilty plea if the court rejected the three-year sentencing deal for the involuntary manslaughter conviction.
“She knew that (possibility) when she pleaded guilty,” Fraser said.
With time already served, Wildman will spend three years and four months in prison for the crime Fraser called “a wanton and senseless act of killing a victim who was passive, unarmed and had no idea what the offender would do.”
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The court heard that Bawden, 59, was hitchhiking on Memorial Drive E. when he was picked up by Kevin Ear, who had met Wild man for the first time the night before before spending the night with her in a Taber motel.
While stopped at a red light at Memorial Dr. and 36 St. E., Wildman, unprovoked, suddenly spun in place in the front of the car, reached out and stabbed Bawden, who was sitting in the back seat. of the passenger.
Bawden fell from the car into a median in morning rush hour traffic, where he hit his head on a traffic signal and died shortly after.
As the car drove away, Wildman closed the rear door, with Ear unaware what had happened, Fraser said.
In fact, Fraser said, Ear was annoyed that Bawden left the vehicle unannounced and didn’t thank them for the trip.
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“She never tells (Ear) what she did and she doesn’t try to help the victim,” the judge said.
“Leaving him dying on the side of the road adds to the callousness of what she had done.”
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Judge still unconvinced on three-year sentence for woman who fatally stabbed homeless hitchhiker
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The slain homeless hitchhiker came from a wealthy Calgary family whose patriarch was a prominent politician and oil man.
Fraser noted that the woman used enough force to pierce four layers of clothing three inches into Bawden’s body, with the knife penetrating the man’s heart sac.
The nature of the crime, which targeted “the most vulnerable member of the community”, places it at the higher end of the seriousness of involuntary manslaughter cases and shows that a three-year sentence is “demonstrably inadequate and reasonable” and would have put the court in public disrepute, Fraser said.
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The judge also refused to accept the Crown’s reason for accepting a three-year sentence: fear that Ear would not be a cooperative or effective witness.
He said the six-year sentence takes into account mitigating factors such as Wildman’s First Nations background and an abusive upbringing between his parents and multiple foster homes.
Fraser described Bawden as a gentle person who struggled with mental health issues and a decade of homelessness.
“He was loved and appreciated by his family members when he was with them,” he said.
Wildman also received a lifetime firearms ban.
Twitter: @BillKaufmannjrn
