The manslaughter trial of Christine Birt came to a sudden halt on Tuesday after Birt changed her plea from not guilty of manslaughter to guilty of assault causing bodily harm.
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Birt was originally charged with second-degree murder but, after pre-trial, the charge was changed to manslaughter.
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After intense discussions by the Crown and defense lawyers, Justice Gerald Taylor called in the six-man, six-woman jury and discharged them from their duty.
“You’ve done your community proud,” said the judge. “It’s a little bittersweet that you don’t get to carry on but there’s always a benefit when there’s a resolution to a serious criminal case like this.”
Birt admitted that she and MacDougall argued late March 10 or early March 11 and Birt used a knife to stab MacDougall.
She then left the Mintern Avenue residence.
Police discovered MacDougall’s body at about 9:30 am on March 11 and spent more than a year investigating it as a homicide. Police didn’t confirm that investigation until The Expositor questioned it, based on information from a family member.
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Birt pleaded not guilty and took the matter to a jury trial that began April 22 where evidence was that two reports indicated stab wounds found on the body of Shannon MacDougall could have been self-inflicted.
Officers who were first on the scene testified during the trial that MacDougall was found face down in the bathtub with a ligature made of a T-shirt around her neck, She also had several stab wounds.
There was blood around the room and in the nearby hall but police found no evidence of bloody footsteps leading away from the scene or fingerprints on the door or windowsills of the locked home to indicate how a perpetrator would have left.
“(Manslaughter) would have been difficult to prove,” said Birt’s lawyer, Scott Reid.
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He indicated that although Birt had already served 29 months in jail, normally counted at almost four years, he and assistant Crown attorney Sean Bradley agreed she should not be sentenced to all that time but released immediately.
They crafted a two-years-less-a-day sentence that will ensure Birt remains on probation for two years.
“She was 28 when it happened and in the midst of her own significant drug addiction,” Reid said. “She’s clean now (submitting to urinalysis tests) and been accepted to George Brown College in the fall.”
Justice Taylor accepted the joint submission after hearing from MacDougall’s sister, Caitlyn Bates, who said her sister had a “heart of gold” and was sweet, kind and funny.
“Yes, she made some bad choices but that does not mean she deserved a bad life. She was a sister, mother, daughter and she mattered.
“Shannon – I love you always and I never gave up on you.”
@EXPSGamble
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