Woman accused of fatal Vanier stabbing was previously accused of stabbing her husband

CBC has confirmed that a woman accused of a fatal stabbing in Ottawa’s Vanier neighborhood last month had previously been charged with stabbing her husband in the United States.

Elianne Assinewai, 58 years old charged with second degree murder Following the stabbing death of 50-year-old Jean Cowie in Ste. apartment on Monique Street on October 28.

CBC can now report that the same woman stabbed her then-husband, James Raymond Assinewai, multiple times during a domestic dispute in Fort Covington, New York, in 2011.

New York State Police told CBC they responded to a call on March 4, 2011, to an apartment on Water Street in Fort Covington, about 20 kilometers from the international border crossing in Cornwall, Ontario.

“An investigation determined that (then) 44-year-old Elianne Assinewai of Fort Covington stabbed James R. Assinewai during a domestic dispute,” a public information officer said in an emailed statement.

“Elianne Assinewei was arrested and charged with 1st degree assault and arraigned in the town of Malone Court.”

CBC was able to identify it as the same woman from court records.

Use of force is justified

CBC confirmed that Assinewai was freed after a grand jury agreed that the use of force was justified in self-defense following the 2011 stabbing.

A grand jury is an investigative body used by some US states that decides whether criminal charges should be brought.

A source involved in the 2011 investigation told CBC that the grand jury agreed that Assinewai had acted in self-defense after his lawyer took the unusual step of having him testify.

A neighbor who reported hearing sounds of domestic violence confirmed the woman’s statement, according to the source, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

While the husband’s injuries were initially thought to be life-threatening, he later recovered. CBC later confirmed his death.

The source stated that both parties were extremely drunk when first responders arrived, adding that police had been called to the residence after receiving reports of domestic violence earlier.

CBC revealed that the police file was sealed after the charges against Assinewai were dropped. The Franklin County district attorney’s office declined to provide information to CBC.

‘Bloodbath and beyond’

But James Raymond Assinewai’s sister said her family never accepted that their brother’s wife had acted in self-defence.

“We didn’t believe it,” Tammy Assinewai told CBC.

Michael Cunningham was the owner of the apartment Assinewais rented in Fort Covington in 2011.

He recalled that the couple met online and had not lived in the city for long before the stabbing. He remembered them as a friendly couple who shared a meal with him one Thanksgiving.

“He was very nice when they weren’t drinking, but when they started drinking, they started fighting,” she told CBC.

After the stabbing, Cunningham was assigned to clean the apartment, which he said had blood stains on the walls, floor and ceiling.

“It was a terrible thing. I had to change the name of the flat: ‘bloodbath and beyond’,” he said.

Assinewai’s current lawyer, Dawn Dickinson, declined to comment to CBC.