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The Crown is seeking a significant penitentiary sentence for the woman, who watched passively as her boyfriend brutally tortured her husband for months inside the home all three shared — beating him with broom handles, setting him on fire, confining him to a tiny closet and placing pins through his lips to silence his screams. Saying she failed to intervene out of fear for her own safety, the woman seemed oddly unaffected, even conversational, as she shared these horrific details with police.

“I was struck by the lack of emotional reaction to the content being discussed,” testified forensic psychologist Percy Wright, citing the woman’s ability “to emotionally distance herself from the situation.”

The court has heard that the victim suffered a plethora of burns, bruises and cuts — causing chronic pain and lasting nerve damage — before police finally discovered the abuse in early 2010.

“Why was [your boyfriend] doing this?” a police investigator asked the woman.

She paused for a long minute, then answered: “I honestly don’t know what got into him.”

The “pathological” relationship between the two co-accused was partially responsible for the woman’s failure to act, forensic psychiatrist Derek Pallandi told the court. While the woman appeared to make decisions of her own volition, her behaviour was coloured throughout by the influence of her sadistic boyfriend, he testified.

“That [relationship] pervades everything she does, because he is a very controlling individual,” Mr. Pallandi said.

Due to her limited mental capacity and ability to compartmentalize events, there is a risk the woman could enter into another “antisocial relationship” in future, Dr. Wright warned.

The Crown and defence will deliver sentencing submissions on May 16.

National Post

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