Melanie Chromy, who had binged on crack cocaine for months and was mired in marital strife over her drug habit, gave her husband of nearly 30 years an ultimatum: sleep in a tent in the yard or we’re done.
Then, she went a step further. She called an acquaintance and asked that her husband be roughed up to intimidate him into leaving her.
While he slept in the backyard at around 2:30 a.m. on June 20, 2023, three or four men entered the tent and assaulted him with an unidentified object. His ear was almost severed from his scalp.
Mike Cook, the lawyer for Chromy, told a provincial court sentencing hearing on Wednesday that her husband’s ear was dangling from a flap of skin as the men escaped from the East Kildonan property.
Winnipeg police officers, who were called by one of the couple’s adult sons as the assault was in progress, arrived within minutes, but didn’t find the suspects.
Chromy was arrested within a half hour and charged with assault causing bodily harm. She wouldn’t tell police who had carried out the attack on her husband.
The victim was rushed to hospital and doctors were able to reattach his ear.
Chromy’s 54-year-old husband sat in the courtroom at her sentencing Wednesday, having forgiven his 46-year-old wife who appeared via video link from the Women’s Correctional Centre in Headingley.
Provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson sentenced Chromy to time served — 208 days — and two years of supervised probation, including treatment for substance abuse and anger management, at the recommendation of Cook and Crown prosecutor Jay Funke. She pleaded guilty in February.
Eyrikson said he recognized Chromy has expressed regret, sadness and a desire to reconcile with her husband, but said the incident was a “very serious situation.”
“Hiring someone to visit violence upon another person, especially in a domestic violence situation, is an extremely serious event,” said Eyrikson. “For you to take on a planned approach and hire someone to go outside in the yard and visit violence upon your husband so he can be intimidated, scared and get out of your life is a truly, remarkably awful thing to do.”
Funke said the husband “surprisingly” fully supports his wife. The couple plan for her to eventually move back to the family home as they reconcile.
Funke told court that Chromy’s record includes convictions for theft under $5,000 due to her shoplifting, but her only violent conviction as an adult was more than 20 years ago.
“This clearly was an incident that appears to have been borne as a result of significant drug use on the day in question and as a result of some breakdown in the relationship with her husband,” said Funke.
Chromy made unsubstantiated allegations at the time about her motivations to have her husband harmed, the Crown said.
“It’s clear whatever the truth of those matters were that she was in some emotional distress and that resulted in a very, very bad decision.”
The defence and Crown agreed Chromy should be ordered to live elsewhere while on probation and only be allowed contact with the victim and the son who witnessed the assault with their consent.
One of the conditions of the probation order is that she seek “intensive” treatment for her addictions, Funke said.
Cook said Chromy’s childhood was “marred by dysfunction” that included neglect and abuse. She was bounced between the home of her mother and stepdad, her grandparents and foster care. At times, she stayed with her father, who had issues with alcohol and gambling. He had called child welfare over the abuse in Chromy’s mother’s home.
While a teenager, Cook said, Chromy would often run away and sleep with men in exchange for a place to stay.
“It’s a horrible thing to think that any child would have to go through that,” said Cook.
Chromy has virtually no work experience and little education, having been a stay-at-home mother, but volunteers at church. She has little support from family or positive friends, said Cook.
She tearfully apologized to the court and to her husband. “I’m very sorry… I know I need help,” Chromy said.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera reports for the city desk, with a particular focus on crime and justice.
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