Man who tried to kill pregnant woman pleads guilty

BRANDON — A 21-year-old man has pleaded guilty to attempted murder for cutting a pregnant woman’s throat and repeatedly stabbing her during a home invasion in Erickson in 2023.

Carter Prince, who was 18 at the time, said he was too intoxicated by alcohol to remember the violent assault against Candace McMunn while she was asleep in her basement.

An agreed statement of facts says the 30-year-old woman awoke to the accused crawling into bed with her early in the morning on June 6, 2023.

McMunn tried to grab a knife from the teen, whom she had never met, as he hit her head 20 to 30 times and stabbed her.

“The victim threw the accused off her, and the struggle continued as she fell into the TV and then fell to the floor, hitting her head,” said the document, which was read aloud in Brandon Court of King’s Bench on Monday.

“The victim momentarily lost consciousness and woke up to the accused on top of her, cutting her throat with a knife.”

McMunn, who’s now 34, pushed her right thumb into one of Prince’s eyes before he stopped assaulting her and fled from the home. She was unable to find her phone in the room and ran outside to get help from her neighbours.

McMunn, who was five weeks pregnant, received multiple cuts and lacerations to her head, face, hands, chest, neck and legs, the document said.

“She had a notable slash across the neck that police observed to be stitched when they interviewed her,” it said.

Her left hand was very swollen, and she had an open stab wound that went through her left forearm.

The tip of a butterfly knife used in the attack had broken off in McMunn’s skull and was later removed. The knife, which belonged to Prince’s friend, had disappeared months before the attack.

McMunn told the Free Press from her hospital bed more than a week after the assault that she almost gave up while fighting off the intruder, but her love for her unborn child gave her the strength to survive.

Court was told Prince had at least one injury — a cut to his pinky finger — that left a trail of blood out of the home.

The statement said Prince went to school following the assault and several people observed that he had a deep cut on his finger.

“He was told it would need stitching, but he did not want medical attention for it,” the statement of facts said, adding that he later relented and was taken to a doctor.

Prince claimed the wound was from a skateboard accident.

That evening, he was invited to his friend’s barbecue. Court heard Prince had previously placed the knife on the backyard fire pit and it was found during the gathering by the friend’s sibling, who gave it to their mother.

She called police because the knife was bloodied and had strands of hair caught in it. On June 7, a black hoodie with blood-like stains was found under the friend’s deck and was handed over to police.

Wasagaming RCMP arrested Prince that day.

Prince’s and McMunn’s DNA were found on the knife, hoodie and a T-shirt worn by the accused during the attack. His DNA was also linked to bloodstains on the floor of McMunn’s garage.

His two-week trial had been scheduled for October, but won’t go ahead because of his guilty plea.

Justice Elliot Leven ordered a Gladue and pre-sentence report to be completed before the defence and Crown give their sentencing submissions on Oct. 29.

The charge of break and enter to commit an indictable offence was stayed.

— Brandon Sun