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
Liberal MP says she's leaving politics over disrespectful dialogue, threats, misogyny
Liberal MP Pam Damoff says she won't run again in the next federal election, saying she has experienced misogyny, disrespectful dialogue in politics and threats to her life.
Concerns about Plexiglass prompt inspections at some Loblaws locations in Ottawa
Inspections are underway at more than one Loblaws location in Ottawa after complaints were filed about tall Plexiglass barriers.
Federal employees will be required to spend 3 days a week in the office
Starting in September, public servants in the core public administration will be required to work in the office a minimum of three days a week. The Treasury Board Secretariat says executives will need to be in the office four days per week.
OPP officer said 'someone's going to get hurt' before wrong-way Hwy. 401 crash
As multiple Durham police cruisers were chasing a robbery suspect on the wrong side of Highway 401 Monday night, an Ontario Provincial Police officer shared his concerns, telling a dispatcher, "Someone's going to get hurt."
Ont. woman who faked pregnancy to defraud doulas arrested again on similar charges
Victims of a Brantford, Ont., woman who was sentenced to house arrest earlier this year for defrauding and deceiving doulas say they’re not surprised she’s been apprehended again on similar charges.
Five human skeletons, missing hands and feet, found outside house of Nazi leader Hermann Göring
Archeologists have unearthed the skeletons of five people, missing their hands and feet, at a former Nazi military base in Poland.
Poilievre returns to House unrepentant for calling Trudeau 'wacko,' Speaker not resigning
An unrepentant Pierre Poilievre returned to the House of Commons on Wednesday to pepper the prime minister about his drug decriminalization policies after being booted the day prior for refusing to take back calling Justin Trudeau 'wacko' over his approach to the issue.
Construction begins on LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa
Shovels have hit the ground for constuction on Canada's LGBTQ2S+ national monument in Ottawa.
B.C. man awarded $5,000 in damages in first-of-it-kind intimate image case
In a first-of-its-kind case, a B.C. tribunal has ruled on a dispute involving the non-consensual sharing of intimate images, awarding damages and issuing orders that the photos be destroyed and taken offline.