KITCHENER - A Kitchener woman with severe mental health problems who barged into a man's apartment and stabbed him 16 times with a kitchen knife was sentenced to five years in prison on Thursday.

"The facts in this case are particularly disturbing," Justice Wayne Rabley said in sentencing Danielle Drouin. "The attack was unprovoked ... and premeditated."

On March 3 at 6:20 p.m., Drouin, 39, knocked on the door of the man's apartment in a triplex on Ottawa Street South near Hoffman Street. Drouin, who also lived in the building, apparently was incensed by noise coming from his apartment.

When the man opened the door, Drouin, armed with a six-inch knife, pushed her way inside and began stabbing him in the neck and back. Two of the 16 stab wounds were serious; one was bleeding badly. He was treated in hospital.

The man's friend, also in the apartment, came to his assistance and got cut on his wrist and just under his left eye. He did not require hospital treatment.

The pair wrestled Drouin to the ground, took the knife and held her in a headlock until police arrived.

She pleaded guilty to aggravated assault and assault with a weapon.

The tenant's recovery and healing took six weeks.

"I feel lucky to be alive as my injuries could have been a lot more severe," he wrote in a victim impact statement. "Only by luck I am still here today."

He said the attack changed his life forever.

"I am triggered daily by the scars I have on my body," he wrote. "I am constantly reminded of this terrible event. I have had an episode of panic when playing in my pool league and seeing a woman that looked like the accused."

Drouin has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, court was told. In the last two years she wound up in the hospital emergency department 70 times.

The month before the attack, she was admitted to hospital and taken off all of her medications and given new ones. Three days after she was discharged, she attacked the pair.

The judge asked Drouin if she wanted to say anything before being sentenced.

"I really don't know what to say," she said. "I'm sorry for what I've done."

Drouin has no prior record. The judge gave her credit for pleading guilty and expressing remorse. He noted she had a difficult upbringing. Her father was abusive. She was put in foster care at age 11.

But Rabley said the aggravating factors in the case trump the mitigating factors.

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

"We live in a world where we have become far too accustomed to violence," the judge said. "It seems to me that every day we hear about another shooting in the United States or some other violence that has taken place close to home.

"As a society, we are becoming far too accepting of this as a reality of our day-to-day life."

Courts must do what they can to protect citizens, he said.

"People must be able to look at their justice system and believe that there will be some accountability when injustices are done," the judge said, adding denunciation and deterrence must take centre stage in the sentence.

Rabley gave Drouin one year of credit for time in pretrial custody, leaving another four years to serve.

Crown prosecutor Armin Sethi had asked for five years in prison, minus time spent in pretrial custody. Defence lawyer Piet de Jong sought three years, minus pretrial custody.

The man who was stabbed 16 times said he is now apprehensive when answering a knock at the door.

"I leave a big wrench by the door as a weapon to protect myself," he wrote in the victim impact statement. "I am fearful of her coming back. Wherever I go, I now carry a small pocket knife to help me feel safe. Walking around in the community, I am constantly looking over my shoulder."

gpaul@therecord.com

Twitter: @GPaulRecord