THUNDER BAY -- A woman formerly charged with murder in connection with the death of her boyfriend was released on time served Wednesday after the court determined she had acted in self-defense.
Kimberly Fox, 35, was arrested after an incident on Dec. 29, 2012 and charged with aggravated assault of 28-year-old Moses Kakekagumick but the charge was upgraded to murder when the victim died in the hospital in January 2013.
On Wednesday, Fox was sentenced to two years in jail, which she has already served pre-trial, and 18 months of probation.
Fox was scheduled to stand trial on the murder charge starting Dec. 1, 2014, but her lawyer David Bruzzese said a few days before it was to begin he met with the Crown and discussed the defence of self-defence based on the injuries that caused the victim’s death.
“It was agreed upon the evidence of the neuropathologist those injuries occurred in the course of Ms. Fox defending herself from a person who had a history of assaulting her,” said Bruzzese.
The events of Dec. 29, 2012 outlined in the agreed statement of facts state that before 7:30 a.m., Fox and Kakekagumick, who had been in a relationship for about four years and lived on the streets, arrived at a Brant Street residence, which was the home of Fox’s brother’s girlfriend.
In her interview with the police after her arrest, Fox said the pair had been drinking hand sanitizer and had been drinking for days. She said that Kakekagumick had assaulted her a few days prior, punching out one of her teeth, and that he had also choked her a few days before.
She told the police as they were about to leave the house, Kakekagumick punched her and then she punched him and couldn’t stop hitting him, using her feet and hand.
After the incident, her brother told Fox to get Kakekagumick out of the house so she dragged him down the walkway and at some point lost his pants.
When the police arrived, they found Fox standing over Kakekagumick, who was lying on the ground, with no pants on and blood around his head, not moving. Fox had blood on her shoes.
Kakekagumick never regained consciousness and died in the hospital on Jan. 15, 2013 of pneumonia.
The autopsy revealed the victim suffered from brain injuries but Crown attorney Dan Mitchell told the court that two expert pathologists wouldn’t have been able to say beyond a reasonable doubt that Fox’s actions caused Kakekagumick’s death.
Fox had caused some injuries but they would not have been able to connect the dots to second-degree murder and withdrawing the charge saved the court and a jury up to two weeks of time to come to the same conclusion.
Mitchell said Fox has had a troubled and difficult life and the victim had assaulted her many times in the past and even served some time in jail for one of the incidents.
An emotional Fox apologized for what happened and said she will continue to turn her life around now that she’s been released.
During her time in custody, Fox has earned almost all her high school credits and she has received counselling.
“When I met her, she was a person suffering from abuse and alcohol addiction in a very, very bad way,” said Bruzzese.
“She has accepted her responsibility and has become at this point a very stable and sober person.”
The sentence was a joint submission from the Crown and defence and was accepted by Justice Helen Pierce, who said Fox has taken steps to advance her life with continuing her studies and a construction plan for dealing with her addiction.
