A Windsor woman must live at home for a year for helping an accused murderer.
Nzingha Plumb, 25, was sentenced Thursday to a one-year conditional sentence followed by a year on a curfew for her role in the death of Dalton Bartnik.
Police believe the 27-year-old was killed on April 1, 2024 at his home on Louis Avenue, although his body has yet to be located.
Four people are charged with Bartnik’s murder; Daniel Gerow, Jeffrey Dorman, Elizabeth Gaudette and Samantha Sweetman.
In pleading guilty to being an accessory after the fact, Plumb has told the court she was in the home when Bartnik was being killed.
“The offender was on the main floor of the residence when she heard the victim screaming and she did nothing. I find this reprehensible,” Justice Pamela Hebner said Thursday while reading her sentence decision.
“It is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a person with empathy at all listening to the screams and doing nothing, and I can only conclude that Ms. Plumb is incapable of empathy.”
Plumb has admitted she gave Bartniks’ killer (the Crown alleges it was Gerow) bleach and garbage bags along with the keys to her minivan, “believing” it was to help him “dispose of evidence of the murder”.
Plumb wasn’t arrested until July 2024, and she stayed in the South West Detention Centre until October 4, 2024.
That’s when she gave police a full statement about Bartnik’s murder, knowing she would likely be a key witness during the court proceedings.
“Were it not for Ms. Plumb’s assistance to the police and the Crown, I would sentence her to penitentiary time within the established range of three to five years,” Hebner said in accepting the joint submission of both the defence and the Crown.
They asked for the conditional sentence of two years – one year on house arrest, a second with a curfew – plus a DNA order, a lifetime ban on owning weapons and she must forfeit her cellphone to the court.
The judge acknowledged Plumb didn’t play a role in the murder itself and there’s no evidence to indicate she knows where Bartniks’ body has been buried.
That is of little comfort to the family members who packed the Superior courthouse Thursday.
They were emotional during and after the sentencing.
In some of the five victim impact statements for the previous sentencing hearing, Bartniks’ family members expressed disappointment with the plea and house arrest sentence agreement.
Hebner spent a fair amount of time in her sentence, explaining the role and value of joint submissions.
She noted while it is aggravating that Plumb didn’t try to help Bartnik nor did she call police, Plumb’s evidence to police, her guilty plea and being a first-time offender are mitigating.
“..without her (Plumb) information and testimony, it is very likely that Dalton’s murderers would never be brought to justice,” the judge said.
Plumb is a mother to three children; all of whom are in the care of family or the Children’s Aid Society.
She is living with a family friend “out of the jurisdiction” and “away from the drug culture” in Windsor.
The judge says Plumb has depression, borderline personality disorder and struggles with substance abuse.
“Ma’am, I sincerely hope you’re never before the court again,” Justice Hebner said to Plumb before walking out of the courtroom.
A trial date has yet to be set for the other people charged in connection with Bartniks’ murder.
