Man who nearly killed wife given 4-year sentence

CTV Toronto: Ralph Gutkin gets four years Ralph Gutkin, convicted of a vicious attack on his common-law spouse, received his sentenced. Tamara Cherry has more.

A Toronto man who nearly killed his common-law spouse while she slept was handed a four-year sentence Friday.

Accounting for time already served behind bars since his arrest, 59-year-old Ralph Lawrence Gutkin has a little more than a year left in his sentence, but his lawyer suspects he will serve about nine months before beginning three years of probation.

"It is a mystery as to why this dreadful and heart-breaking tragedy occurred," Justice Jack Grossman told court before handing down the sentence. "It appears there was no prior indicator of what was to come, nor is there an explanation for why it happened."

Gutkin was originally charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault, but was only convicted of aggravated assault earlier this year, after an agreement between the Crown and defence lawyers. Gutkin did not plead guilty to the charge, as he claimed to not remember what happened.

It was July 26, 2012, when Gutkin's common-law wife awoke to stab wounds, and Gutkin's hands around her throat. She was near death.

"By 2:38 a.m. that morning of July 26, 2012, Mr. Gutkin placed a call to 911 stating he had just tried to strangle his common-law wife," Grossman said in his written sentencing decision. "He said she was screaming and he tried to revive her with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation."

Gutkin's lawyer, Jonathan Shime, had asked for a sentence of three to four years. Crown attorney Allison MacPherson asked for eight years.

The victim sobbed in the courtroom as the sentence was handed down Friday.

"Terrible, terrible, terrible," her mother said inside the courtroom. "He's a horrible, horrible person and he should suffer...That man shouldn't be on the streets. He shouldn't be allowed out."

During the sentencing hearing in April, MacPherson said the fact that the victim was attacked in the couple's "matrimonial bed" was an aggravating factor.

"She was in the one place in the world where she should have been safe, with the one person in the world she should have been safe with," MacPherson said.

‘I am no longer that woman’

The victim, who asked not to be identified so as to protect the identities of her two children, delivered a lengthy and emotional victim impact statement in April, explaining that she was a different woman before the attack.

"I was trusting, loyal, forthright, strong, compassionate and funny," she told the court. "I am no longer that woman. I am an actress playing the part of that woman. That woman died on July 26, 2012 — in spirit if not in body."

The victim had met Gutkin through an online dating website in 2007.

"In the days, weeks and months that followed, in the many quiet hours I spent recovering, I tried to come to terms with how a man that shared my life, my home, my family, my income and my future could have choked and strangled and stabbed and beaten me to within an inch of my life," she told court in April.

In his online LinkedIn profile, Gutkin touts expertise in conflict management and resolution. He mentions that he practised law for 15 years, but does not mention that he was disbarred in 1997 and ordered to pay $30,000 after pleading guilty to 142 counts of professional misconduct.

In one case, he lied to a client about filing an application for adoption. In another, he said a divorce petition had been filed and served, but there was no petition. He told other clients that their trust funds had been invested and were earning money, when in fact he had taken that money and used it for another client's benefit.

The woman he stabbed and choked knew nothing of his legal troubles until a friend Googled his name, she said. By then, she said outside the courtroom, she was invested in the relationship and "believed in second chances."

The couple had gone for dinner and a frozen yogurt the evening of the attack "before a minor disagreement arose over financial issues," Grossman noted in his decision. Despite this, the victim recalled Gutkin "being extremely affectionate" as they went to bed.

Referring to the 911 call, Grossman wrote: "He continued to advise the 911 operator that he had been sleeping and woke up on top of his wife with his hands around her neck. He added there was a knife in the room, that he did not know where it came from and that she was bleeding. He urged the 911 operator to 'please come, hurry' asking where the ambulance was."

No explanation was ever given for the attack.

Indeed, after he was arrested, the judge noted Gutkin made several utterances including, "I can't believe I did this, I love her...I don't know how this happened, I love her, what have I done," and, "I don't know what happened, I woke up and my hands were around her neck, her tongue was out, so I started CPR on her."

"What started as a relationship with love and affection, with respect for each other and each other's family, in one short unexplained moment, collapsed and plunged into a moment of terror," Grossman wrote.

"Two decent people from honourable good families catapulted into a horrendous inexcusable terrifying nightmare. How could anyone understand the horror and fear in (the victim's) mind as she awoke to this shocking reality? Yet, no one is able to explain. I am told it is a mystery."

Addressing the court in May, Gutkin said in part, "There are no words to adequately convey how deeply sorry and horrified I am and I have been at what occurred that night...I wish I could offer some explanation for what happened."

The injuries sustained by the victim were life-altering, court heard.

Tragic situation

The victim had been a foot shorter than Gutkin, half his weight and, because of an accident years earlier, had the use of only one arm to defend herself. During the attack, Gutkin fractured her ribs, lacerated her liver, collapsed her lung, and punctured the lining around her heart.

"My body looked like a small child's — all broken and battered and scarred. My face reflected fear and I couldn't look directly into my own eyes," she said in her victim impact statement. "I was taken. I was conned. I was deceived. I was played."

Once released from jail, Gutkin must undergo whatever counselling his probation officer sees fit.

His defence lawyer called the case "a really tragic situation for everybody who's involved."

"The judge had a very difficult task ahead of him, which was to decide a fair outcome in this very tragic circumstance," Shime said outside the courthouse. "He took his time, he gave a very lengthy and considerate decision and we feel he came to the appropriate outcome."

Grossman noted that he hopes the sentence "will bring closure to a very shocking and tragic moment in the lives of many who have articulated the impact of this anguish in an eloquent and meaningful way."

"I can only hope, as all of you leave the courtroom today, you will do so with renewed hope cherishing the peace of mind associated with a new beginning always being aware of how precious life is and how blessed you are to be embraced and treasured by loved ones," Grossman wrote.