‘Where was any help from our society?’

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This article was published 12/03/2024 (744 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Diagnosed at seven with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, Eliah Olson never got the resources that would have steered her away from a crash landing in jail, a court was told Monday as she faced sentencing in the stabbing death of her 18-year-old boyfriend.

Olson, 21, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the July 2022 stabbing death of Logan Clarke.

Olson, who is considered low functioning, was examined as a child by a doctor who concluded it was unlikely she would ever be able to live on her own without supports, defence lawyer Tara Walker told King’s Bench Justice Brian Bowman.

The doctor’s report made several recommendations to improve Olson’s opportunities to thrive, including participating in programs specifically geared to children with FASD and after-school programs, none of which were ever acted on, Walker said.

“Where was the funding? Where was the programming? Where was any help from our society?” Walker said.

“Again, this is somebody falling through the cracks and now we are considering sending her to a federal institution.”

Olson was originally charged with second-degree murder, but entered a plea to manslaughter, with the Crown accepting there was an element of provocation to the killing, prosecutor Boyd McGill told court.

McGill recommended Bowman sentence Olson to eight years in prison, while Walker urged Bowman to consider a four-year sentence, with the remainder of her custodial time served in a provincial jail.

Olson, Clarke and three friends had been drinking and smoking marijuana at Olson’s Burnell Street basement apartment, when Clarke “for reasons unknown,” started an argument with Olson and “turned aggressive,” McGill said.

Clarke punched a wall with a knife and broke a framed copy of his recently-earned welding diploma before taking hold of Olson by her hair and dragging her to the hallway outside her apartment.

Two of Olson’s friends tried to “de-escalate” the situation, prompting Clarke to kick one of them, before a male friend started “grappling” with Clarke against the hallway wall and the two men slid to the floor.

As the two men continued to fight, Olson ran into the apartment and came back with a knife. Olson told her friend to move, then stabbed Clarke four times, including once in the heart.

Olson changed her clothes before pulling the fire alarm, leaving the apartment building with her three friends and boarding a city bus.

Pulling the fire alarm was Olson’s “attempt to get some help for Mr. Clarke,” McGill said.

Bus security video showed Olson and her friends “appearing distraught” and Olson telling them: “Don’t say nothing.”

In the hours that followed, Olson confessed to the stabbing to several friends, telling one of them: “I stabbed him, I had to defend myself.”

McGill said Olson was “provoked… by the violent circumstances surrounding (the incident)” and “acted in the heat of passion.”

The prosecutor said Olson expressed an early willingness to plead guilty to manslaughter, but the Crown was not willing to accept it until the evidence had been tested at a preliminary hearing.

McGill said Olson’s inability to control her emotions was a “significant concern” for the Crown and that a lengthy custodial sentence was necessary to provide her the counselling and programming needed for her to change.

Olson’s actions were influenced by her experience with domestic violence at the hands of a prior boyfriend, Walker said.

Walker said evidence at the preliminary hearing suggested a strong case for self-defence or defence of a third party.

“Had this gone to trial, it could have played out as a very strong argument for self-defence,” Walker said. “There was significant provocation.”

Bowman reserved his decision. A sentencing date will be set next month.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca