Emotional Tracey Ings apologizes for violent stabbing
A St. John's woman with a history of mental illness and addiction has been sentenced to five years for a violent stabbing in the city's downtown last summer.
Tracey Ings, 42, sobbed as she told the court Thursday she is addicted to cocaine and Percocet, and suffers from biopolar disorder.
In September 2015, police rushed to a home on Lime Street to find a 55-year-old man with life-threatening stab wounds.
Ings pleaded guilty last week to the aggravated assault, which left her former common law spouse with part of his small intestine coming through his stomach.
She had plunged a knife into his stomach, and after realizing what she had done, wrapped him in a blanket, then ran into the street, pounding on doors asking for someone to call an ambulance.
He was hospitalized for three weeks.
The charge of attempted murder with withdrawn.
At her sentencing hearing at provincial court in St. John's, a tearful Ings apologized and said despite her mental illness and drug abuse, she takes responsibility for the crime.
"I'm sorry," Ings said to the court and the man who was stabbed, as she was led out in handcuffs.
Judge James Walsh agreed with the Crown and defence, and accepted a joint submission asking for five years in prison.
Disturbance at TD
In addition to the stabbing, Ings was also in court for an incident which happened at a TD bank in the east end of the city last July.
The court was told Ings was screaming over the phone because a cheque had bounced. She threatened to kill herself, then hung up the phone.
She then went to the branch, screamed and cursed at customers, rolled in the grass outside and spit at police officers.
In early September, prior to the serious stabbing, Ings, with scissors in hand, attacked and scratched a man.
Ings told the court she fears she will commit suicide once she gets out of prison.
During her appearance, Ings thanked correctional officers for showing sympathy since her arrest.
She said they stopped her from committing suicide eight or nine times.
Walsh told Ings to remember that problems arise because she doesn't take her medication, and that now that she is going to be inside prison, she should follow the instructions of physicians.
