A WOMAN who admitted to shooting her husband and chopping up his body might be out of jail by the end of 2011 after pleading guilty to manslaughter.

Joyce Chant, 57, was originally charged with murder, but after a jury was unable to reach a verdict earlier this year she admitted to killing her husband after he produced a gun during an argument in their violent marriage.

Chant said that she felt threatened by Wayne Chant and lost control, shooting him dead and dismembering his body. Justice Roderick Howie sentenced Chant to a minimum of three years and five months' jail for manslaughter and 10 months for interfering with human remains. But he said he did not believe her latest version of events and would have sentenced her on different facts if a jury had found her guilty. However, he was bound to accept the facts which had been agreed by the Crown when it chose to accept her guilty plea, and sentenced her accordingly.

"She is in my opinion capable of … attempting to manipulate the court," Justice Howie said. "I do not believe she is in the slightest way remorseful for the death of her husband."