An Edmonton woman who tried to hire an undercover cop posing as a hitman to wipe out an entire family was put under community supervision for four years on Tuesday.

My Tai Sparling, 46, was handed a one-year conditional sentence to be served in the community, followed by three years of probation, after pleading guilty to counselling an indictable offence and uttering a death threat.

Provincial Court Judge Mike Allen described the case as “extremely unusual” and said that much of the recorded conversation with the undercover police officer was “bizarre” and some of it “bordered on the absurd.”

Allen noted that Sparling – a former dental assistant and Vietnamese court interpreter – suffers from a variety of psychological disorders and a physical ailment that exacerbates her mental condition and summed it up by saying she would do “inappropriate” things while under stress.

According to agreed facts, Sparling was upset with a man she had hired to do renovations because she believed he had “ripped her off” for some money and property.

Court heard she asked another employee to help her with a plan to “get rid of” the man’s wife and seven of his family members and set up the man for one of the killings.

The employee initially thought Sparling was joking, but when she got upset and he realized it was serious, he told her he did not want to be involved with killing anyone.

When she persisted and came to his home with photographs of some of the people she wanted murdered and said: “Kill them all,” the employee went to police.

An undercover operation was put into place and an officer called Sparling and then met her in in a parking lot on May 7 in an unmarked police vehicle equipped with audio and video recording devices.

Sparling then tried to hire the supposed hitman to kill the man’s family and provided him with photographs. She also suggested some of the killings be made to appear accidental or suicide and that one of the hits be set up to make it look like the man she was targeting had “done it.”

Court also heard that Sparling told the undercover cop she had very little money and he said she would have to pay $1,000 in advance and $2,000 more after the killings.

As well, she said she needed help getting two property land titles transferred to her and arranging for a notary.

Police eventually figured out that Sparling wanted the land titles to two properties the man owned transferred to her as she felt she had paid most of the expenses and believed that, if she got his driver’s licence, she could have someone impersonate him and do the transfers.

She also felt that if all of the man’s family were eliminated, the properties would go to her instead of them.

Defence lawyer Robert Shaigec noted Sparling has spent seven months in jail and told court she suffers from anxiety and depression, an emotional disorder and was treated for PTSD after being in three car crashes in 2011.