Sudbury man gets life sentence for violent attack on woman and her baby
The man who pleaded guilty to a vicious 2019 knife attack on a Sudbury woman and her baby has been sentenced to life in prison.
Alexander Stavropoulos, 28, has been sentenced to life in prison for the random attack that happened in a busy box store parking lot on Marcus Drive in early June 2019.
In a Sudbury court on Wednesday, Justice Karen Lische recounted the facts in the case saying on the day of the attack Stavropoulos took a bus from his apartment to get a coffee, then made his way to Home Depot and purchased a pack of four utility knives. It was stated that he was looking for larger knives but he took what they had. He discarded two of the knives in the parking lot and kept the other two.
Stavropoulos waited hours for the "right little white girl" to kill, Lische said, and when he saw a baby in a stroller, with her mother and three-year-old sister, he knew she was "the one."
It was also said that Stavropoulos knew he had to kill the baby’s mother first so that he could execute his plan to kill the young child.
He targeted these strangers because of their gender, Caucasian race, and the youngest child because of her age, Lische said.
At the sentencing hearing, the court heard that the mother Stavropoulos attacked is permanently disabled now, after being stabbed several times in the attack more than two years ago.
Lische said the first stab was to the back of the woman's neck before she was repeatedly stabbed in the neck and head.
There was a significant injury to the mother, who nearly died, Lische said.
The court also heard the attacker had tried to stab the women’s 8-month-old baby and punched at the stroller five to six times.
"His motivation, in whole or part, was hatred of white females as he felt rejected by them," Lische said.
"Although the nature of the attack was unprovoked and random, it was focused on Alexander Stavropoulos' clear intent to kill a young white girl."
She said the lives of the "heroic bystanders" -- who helped save two people that day – are forever traumatized by the events. One of the people who "helped save the mother's life" was a family medicine resident who worked in the emergency room at Health Sciences North.
Stavropoulos has been in jail since the stabbing took place.
He will be eligible for parole after serving 10 years in prison.
The 2019 incident was not his first violent attack in Sudbury. Stavropolous served 99 days in jail for another knife attack at the Sudbury transit terminal on April 1, 2018. He was on probation at the time of the second attack.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'They needed people inside Air Canada:' Police announce arrests in Pearson gold heist
Police say one former and one current employee of Air Canada are among the nine suspects that are facing charges in connection with the gold heist at Pearson International Airport last year.
House admonishes ArriveCan contractor in rare parliamentary show of power
MPs enacted an extraordinary, rarely used parliamentary power on Wednesday, summonsing an ArriveCan contractor to appear before the House of Commons where he was admonished publicly and forced to provide answers to the questions MPs said he'd previously evaded.
Trump lawyers say Stormy Daniels refused subpoena outside a Brooklyn bar, papers left 'at her feet'
Donald Trump's legal team says it tried serving Stormy Daniels a subpoena as she arrived for an event at a bar in Brooklyn last month, but the porn actor, who is expected to be a witness at the former president's criminal trial, refused to take it and walked away.
Why drivers in Eastern Canada could see big gas price spikes, and other Canadians won't
Drivers in Eastern Canada face a big increase in gas prices because of various factors, especially the higher cost of the summer blend, industry analysts say.
Customers disappointed after email listing $60K Tim Hortons prize sent in error
Several Tim Horton’s customers are feeling great disappointment after being told by the company that an email stating they won a boat worth nearly $60,000 was sent in error.
Woman who pressured boyfriend to kill his ex in 2000s granted absences from prison
A woman who pressured her boyfriend into killing his teenage ex more than a decade ago will be allowed to leave prison for weeks at a time.
'A living nightmare': Winnipeg woman sentenced following campaign of harassment against man after online date
A Winnipeg woman was sentenced to house arrest after a single date with a man she met online culminated in her harassing him for years, and spurred false allegations which resulted in the innocent man being arrested three times.
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter banned from NBA
Toronto Raptors player Jontay Porter has been handed a lifetime ban from The National Basketball Association (NBA) following an investigation which found he disclosed confidential information to sports bettors, the league says.
Attempt to have murder charge quashed against alleged serial killer dismissed by judge
A motion filed by the man accused of killing four Indigenous women in Winnipeg to have one of those murder charges quashed has been dismissed by the judge – weeks before the start of his trial.