Windsor man pleads guilty to stabbing his common-law partner to death

WARNING: This story contains details of intimate partner violence.

A Windsor, Ontario man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the stabbing death of his common-law partner.

Police initially charged Wellington Holland, who was 62 at the time of the crime, with first-degree murder.

On Wednesday, Holland sat in the Windsor Superior Court of Justice courtroom wearing a gray sweater and slacks. A few steps behind him were family members of victim Janice Madison, 67.

According to an agreed statement of facts read by Crown attorney Bryan Pillon, Madison was found with stab wounds on Nov. 14, 2023, at the home she shared with Holland.

In the disclosure of the facts, details about Holland and Madison’s relationship as well as his death were shared.

Madison and Holland had been in an intimate relationship for four years, three of which they lived together in Windsor’s Remington Park neighborhood.

On November 14, one of Holland’s sisters received a phone call from Holland saying he had killed Madison.

The sister went to the house with one of Holland’s other siblings.

The two found Holland sitting on the couch, extremely intoxicated, and said Madison had belittled him and called him names.

The brothers went upstairs to the bedroom. They found Madison on the floor next to the bed.

He had many stab wounds in various parts of his body.

She asked her sisters not to call the police.

One of the sisters called emergency services. Madison was pronounced dead when he was taken to the hospital.

A toxicologist’s report revealed that Holland’s blood alcohol level was extremely high at the time of the incident.

Holland’s criminal record includes multiple incidents of assault on Madison; these include a February 2022 conviction for strangling and suffocating her.

After the statement of events was read, the presiding judge asked Holland to stand up and confirm that he agreed, and he said “yes”.

The judge said what happened was “tragic” and a case of violence by an intimate partner.

The Netherlands is expected to be sentenced on January 13, 2025.