SASKATOON -- The terrifying screams of his younger brother prompted a boy to run outside a Saskatoon home for help, where police officers were waiting with the boys' father who had made a complaint about a child custody dispute.

Police at the scene of the home in the 400 block of Ninth Street East were trying to make contact with the boys' mother on March 28, 2013, when the 10-year-old opened the door and said something was wrong and that he needed help. Officers entered and found the 32-year-old woman in a bathtub with her six-year-old son. The child had received a cut to the neck and a stab wound to the abdomen. The mother had stab wounds on her abdomen and cuts to her wrists.

The older son, in statements heard Monday in Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench, said he heard his brother screaming, "You're killing me." According to the victim, his mother said "they were going to be safe from dad."

On Monday, the woman was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in prison. Originally charged with attempted murder, the mother — who, to protect the identity of the victim, can't be named — pleaded guilty last month to aggravated assault.

"This was absolutely horrible and I'm incredibly remorseful," the woman, looking visibly pained and sounding shaky but articulate, said in court moments before Justice Gerald Allbright accepted the joint sentencing submission.

She also apologized to her two sons, saying "it had nothing to do with them." Moments after court proceedings ended, she was taken away in handcuffs with family members calling out tearful goodbyes.

The boys' father, who was at the house that night attempting to pick up his sons, said in a statement that he has "been in constant fear for three years," adding that his son told him that he was "really scared to be by myself, ever." In a statement, the youngest son said he "was scared and couldn't go to the bathroom by myself."

The youngest brother also suffers from anxiety at the end of school days, worried that his mother — who had been out on bail — would show up at school, court heard.

The boys' father said his youngest son's neck was uncomfortable for months and that he couldn't speak for a long time after the attack. He also had a major stomach wound as a result of the stabbing.

Each of the victim impact statements were read by the Crown. The father and two boys were not in court.

Court on Monday heard that a psychiatric assessment showed the woman suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, obsessive compulsive disorder and may have been experiencing a "dissociative episode" at the time.

The Crown said the incident was at the high end of the aggravated assault spectrum because of the "extremely serious wounds" and the fact the victim was vulnerable and couldn't defend himself.

The defence said the woman can't explain her actions but knows that normal people don't do these types of things.

"Trying to make sense of the senseless," said the defence.