Northern Ont. man admits to stabbing woman to death after night of drinking, drugs

In court Thursday, Dallas Malley pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of a 39-year-old woman in Marathon after a night of drinking and drugs.

A northern Ontario man in his early 20s has admitted to stabbing a woman, 39, to death in Marathon on July 15, 2023, following a night of drinking and drugs.

Dallas Malley was charged with second-degree murder in the death of Charity (Bittern) Mainville-Moses, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter in a Thunder Bay courtroom Thursday morning.

The plea bargain means Malley will avoid a trial despite being found minutes after the stabbing with a knife covered in Mainville-Moses’ blood.

During the court proceedings, he was in the prisoner’s box, behind glass, with short, brown hair and wearing a T-shirt and glasses.

An agreed statement of facts was read into the record by the Crown and agreed to by the defendant.

What happened that night

The court heard the night before the fatal stabbing, Malley was at his apartment at 4 Whitman Ct. with his downstairs neighbour and the victim, drinking and doing cocaine and methamphetamines throughout the evening.

He didn’t know Mainville-Moses and had only met her that day.

Around midnight, Malley went to a convenience store and withdrew $60 for his neighbour to buy him more cocaine.

Malley returned to his neighbour’s apartment, but what happened there between 12:25 and 1:27 a.m. is unknown.

When the neighbour returned, his apartment was in “disarray” and not like he had left it just before midnight.

Malley told police he had an altercation with the victim when she pushed him on the stairs when he was trying to return to his upstairs apartment, resulting in an elbow injury.

Shortly after, he was heading to his mother’s house to get something to eat because he knew she wasn’t home when Mainville-Moses came up behind him and charged.

He used a knife called a ‘Texas toothpick’ to stab her, which he admitted to being an unreasonable response to the situation.

Audio of the scuffle was recorded on video by a woman living nearby, and in it, the court heard the victim was screaming for help.

The witness called 911 and Malley was arrested within minutes.

When police approached, he was heard saying, “Oh shit,” before dropping the knife.

Mainville-Moses was taken to local hospital where she succumbed to a stab wound to the chest at 3:23 a.m.

Crown, defence agree on sentencing

“Second-degree murder involves intent to kill or cause serious harm, but without premeditation,” Kruse Law Criminal & DUI Lawyers said on its website.

“In other words, if you kill someone in the heat of passion during an argument, you could be convicted of second-degree murder. This contrasts with manslaughter, where there is no intent to kill.”

In a joint position, the Crown and defence are asking the judge for a prison sentence of eight years less credit for time served in presentencing custody.

The sentence falls in the upper range of the average manslaughter sentence in Canada, which is six to eight years of incarceration.

“There is no sentence you can impose that will bring back the victim in this matter,” defence attorney Sebastian George Joseph said in his sentencing submission.

“That will heal the hurt the family is experiencing.”

Justice Chantal Brochu accepted the joint recommendation and sentenced Malley to eight years less time previously served.

Credit for time already served

Malley has already been in jail for 713 days, just under two years.

He will get credit deducted at time and half, or 1,070 days, from the eight years.

This means he will serve another 1,850 days, or a little more than five more years, in prison.

Family devastated

Several family members submitted victim impact statements. Two were read in person and the others were read by the Crown.

The statements detail the impact the woman’s death has had on her family.

“We might never recover from this tragedy,” her cousin said.

“I fear for the safety of my family.”

Another cousin said they will always wonder why it happened.

The family’s grief was palpable as wails could be heard from the gallery during the reading of the victim’s impact statements and at one point paused the proceedings.

During the quick adjournment, three court officers stood in front of the convicted man inside the prisoner’s box.

Convicted man showed remorse

The last victim impact statement was read by the victim’s mother who sang and drummed a song about her daughter.

Given the opportunity to speak in court, Malley expressed remorse.

“I am very sorry for what happened and I feel really bad,” he said after sniffling and wiping his face on his shirt sleeve.

“I wish I could go back and change what I did.”