Wanda Ash sentenced to 5.5 years in prison for 'senseless and brutal' killing of Jason Skinner

Wanda Ash, one of two women found guilty of manslaughter in the 2013 stabbing death of Jason Skinner, has been sentenced to five and a half years in prison.

Justice Kendra Goulding delivered the sentence in Grand Falls-Windsor court Monday afternoon, calling Skinner's death in his own apartment "violent and brutal."

"Skinner lost his life in a senseless and brutal manner because of the insatiable and devious greed of two drug addicts he had unwisely befriended during his short stay in this community," Goulding wrote in her decision.

"That is the cruel reality of this case."

Skinner, 34, was stabbed to death in his apartment in Grand Falls-Windsor in April 2013. He was found by police with a knife still protruding from his body, and died shortly afterwards in hospital.

According to his family, he was just a few days away from entering a drug rehabilitation program.

Botched robbery

According to findings from Wanda Ash's trial, the stabbing followed a botched robbery attempt and a night of Ritalin use inside Skinner's home by Ash, Skinner and Pamela Pike.

When Skinner left the house in the morning, Pike devised a plan to knock him unconscious and steal Ritalin pills that he was planning to sell. The robbery attempt, however, went sideways when Skinner stayed conscious and the three began to fight.

At one point during the altercation, Ash put Skinner into a headlock as Skinner tried to fight back. Shortly afterwards, Pike stabbed a large kitchen knife into Skinner's chest.

In court on Monday, Goulding acknowledged that Ash did not help make the plan to rob Skinner, but said she was an active participant in the robbery, and called her the "muscle in the room when Ms. Pike needed it."

"The sad reality is that Mr. Skinner may have been able to successfully defend himself from Ms. Pike when he was on top of her but that opportunity was taken from him by Ms. Ash," Goulding wrote.

Ash also threw a can opener at Skinner, locked the door, and attempted to clean up Skinner's bedroom window in an attempt to evade detection.

A 'serious and grave' offence

As she read her decision on Monday, Goulding said Ash has made serious efforts to address a drug addiction, and that she's a good candidate for community supervision.

The judge also said she's satisfied that an apology Ash gave to the family of Jason Skinner is sincere, but called Ash's offence "serious and grave" — even if she was co-operative with investigators.

​Pike, who delivered the fatal blow, received a seven-and-a-half year sentence for her role in the killing. Ash was sentenced to five and a half years.

Rosellen Sullivan, Ash's defense attorney, said that because the two women could be granted parole release at different times, Ash could possibly spend more days behind bars than Pike.

She called that possibility unfair, and asked Goulding to consider possible parole outcomes for both women in the sentence, but Goulding said there were too many factors beyond court control.

Sullivan said following the decision that it is possible that Ash will spend more time behind bars than Pike.

"Obviously, [Ash] is disappointed. We asked for four years, and that's what she was hoping to get," she said.

"She's got to process it."

With credit for time served, more than two years remains on Ash's sentence.