Accused shrugs off knifing his stepdaughter as 'no big deal'
Betty Ann Adam, CanWest News Service
Published: Friday, September 21, 2007

SASKATOON -- A man who tried to kill his 12-year-old stepdaughter appeared confident and somewhat indignant yesterday as he testified that he "didn't think it was that big of a deal."

The 37-year-old man took the stand at a sentencing hearing to determine if he should be declared a long-term offender. His name can't be published because it might identify the girl.

"I've had 32 months [in jail since the arrest] to think about my actions and what it's cost me," he said, when asked to explain his feelings about the crime.

The man was convicted last November of break-and-enter to commit attempted murder, threatening the child, possession of a knife for a dangerous purpose, assaulting the girl's mother, unlawful confinement of the mother and five counts of breaching court orders, including no-contact orders.

On January 20, 2005, the man broke into his ex-wife's house in the middle of the night while she was at work and the children were alone.

He ripped the phone cords out of the wall and stabbed the girl between the ribs, puncturing her diaphragm, stomach and small intestine. One-third of the child's stomach had to be removed as a result.

In the hours after the stabbing, the man twice burned the wound with the heated blade of a bread knife in failed efforts to stop the bleeding. He forced her to mop up her blood as she pleaded with him not to kill her.

He has said he hated her because there was constant bickering between them and the irritation she caused him was like "death from a thousand paper cuts."

Yesterday, the man said he takes responsibility for "stabbing that kid," but said it was an accident that happened when he slipped because of snow on his boots.

"It happened so quick I didn't think nothing of it. After I read the medical report, I was shocked to see how much damage one f---ing accident created," he said.

The man insisted he is good with children.

"I don't patronize them. They always take a shine to me," he said.

© The Vancouver Province 2007