Iqaluit (Apr 28/03) - A little more than five months after a trial which found Jeannie Manning guilty of manslaughter, she appeared again before the Nunavut Court of Justice for sentencing.

Manning broke down in tears as Justice Paul Chrumka ordered her to spend three years in jail for the stabbing death of David Adla.

"It was a very grave offence. It was a very serious offence and the sole responsibility for the crime is with the accused. She caused the death of another human being," Chrumka told the court.

Manning and Adla met in Cape Dorset in 1990. Through testimony and a review of Manning's medical records at the trial late last year, the court learned that Adla had been abusive towards Manning on numerous occasions.

Manning told the court she walked home alone after a confrontation with Adla at the Legion in Iqaluit in the early morning of Sept. 1, 2001. When she arrived at her residence, Adla was sitting in her kitchen. She asked him to leave and he began to hit her. As her roommate ran out of the home to look for help, Manning said, Adla stopped hitting her and went to the washroom. That's when she grabbed the knife. Manning said he headed towards the door to put on his shoes. Adla then swung his fist at Manning.

"I swung my arm out and stabbed him. I stabbed him three times. I pulled out the knife and moved back," Manning told the court during the trial late last year.

When Chrumka found Manning guilty of manslaughter he said he did not believe Manning intended to kill Adla. He did, however, find that she was not acting out of fear, but out of anger. He reiterated that point several times as he read out his sentence last week.

Crown prosecutor Sue Cooper and defence lawyer Ken Kehler argued back and forth whether a conditional sentence was appropriate or not in this case.

In the end, the judge sided with the Crown stating that general deterrence was important in this case and that imprisonment was mandated by the criminal code.

"The sentence must be such as to deter others from violence that results in death," said Chrumka.

Along with the three-year sentence, the judge ordered a 10-year firearms prohibition and a DNA warrant. Chrumka said the three-year sentence took into account the time she had already spent in custody between Sept. 1, 2001 and April 11, 2002.