HAY RIVER
A murder charge against a Hay River woman has been stayed, and the Crown, along with the RCMP, say the case is closed.

That decision shocked the family of the victim, Roberta Lynn Sabourin, who died in a stabbing at Mackenzie Place highrise in April.

"The only way to describe it, we were shocked," said Grace Sabourin, a sister of the victim. "We were devastated because we didn't expect to hear that kind of news."

"To me, it's like another aboriginal woman being disregarded by the justice system," she added.

Lori Roberta Hansen, 41, of Hay River had been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of 42-year-old Roberta Sabourin on April 8.

The stay was announced in Hay River Territorial Court on Dec. 8 at the beginning of what was to be a preliminary inquiry before Chief Judge Christine Gagnon.

"I told the court that the Crown directs a stay of proceedings on the matter because the Crown has concluded that, based on the evidence, there's no reasonable prospect of conviction, and that the Crown has concluded that it could not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Miss Hansen was not acting in self-defence in this matter," said Crown attorney Marc Lecorre. "And that the Crown considers the matter closed."

In a news release, the RCMP said it also considers the matter closed, saying it conducted a "complete and thorough" investigation.

A stay means court proceedings are stopped, and in theory could be reinstituted within a year.

"But in this case, I made it clear on the record that the Crown considers the matter closed," said Lecorre.

The Crown attorney said the family of the deceased was informed prior to entering the stay and he is not at liberty to discuss the investigation.

Defence attorney Charles Davison did offer some insight into what happened on the night of the stabbing.

"This is what was actually revealed in the witness statements taken by the police from other people who were present," he said. "What happened was that Miss Sabourin and a young person who were angry at Miss Hansen came to the door of the apartment in the highrise where she was at that point just visiting with somebody else, and they started banging on the door trying to get her to come to the door. She didn't know what was going on. She went to the door and, when she opened the door, the other person who was with Miss Sabourin punched Miss Hansen twice in the face. Both of them were angry and carrying on and quite loud."

Hansen retreated into the kitchen and picked up something to defend herself, Davison continued. "It was a knife. And Miss Sabourin, in the course of being angry and carrying on with her outburst, advanced on Miss Hansen and unfortunately ended up suffering a stab wound to the chest, a single wound, and died as a result of the injury to the heart because the knife had gone in that far."

The defence attorney added he is aware what the dispute was about but declined to discuss it since it involves other people. Davison said Hansen will not be discussing the matter with the media but she asked him to make statements for her.

Hansen's reaction to the stay of court proceedings is relief, he said.

"This is not a joyous occasion. She's not happy," he said. "She's relieved that the matter has ended. But she and Miss Sabourin were actually friends. They had known each other for a while. She wishes the whole evening could have played out quite differently."

Davison said Hansen regrets what happened.

"She has expressed to me a number of times her condolences and has asked me to indicate that on her behalf," he said.

Davison said, given what the Crown has stated, he doesn't expect anything else to develop for the case.

"It's not like there are any witnesses left to be interviewed or anything of that sort," he said.

"There's no other evidence that I can think of that even potentially could come to light to change any of this."

Aside from his client and the victim, he said two other people were in the apartment at the time of the incident, and they gave statements to police.

Grace holds out some hope that something new might arise that could see her sister's case reopened.

"If they could find some new witnesses, it would be nice," she said.

Grace said the RCMP's investigating officers did everything they could, and she blames the prosecutors for the stay.

"What kind of prosecutors are those if they can't prosecute anyone?" she wondered.

In fact, Grace said the family was told her sister had "walked into" the knife.

"Who in the hell wants to walk into a knife?" she asked.

When asked about Grace's comment, Lecorre would only say the reason for the stay and the evidence was thoroughly reviewed with the family.

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