young mom sentenced for after-the-fact role in windsor murder
a young mother of three may not have participated direc...
3 minute read
the downtown windsor superior court of justice building.
doug schmidt
/
windsor star
a young mother of three may not have participated directly in the murder of a windsor man last spring, but a judge had harsh words at her sentencing thursday in connection to dalton bartnik’s brutal death.
superior court justice pamela hebner took exception to the admission by nzingha plumb, 25, that she never intervened as she witnessed a beaten and bloodied bartnik, 27, marched through his own home on an april night.
plumb then continued to stand by after bartnik was taken into the basement and there were “screaming and banging noises,” followed by her own boyfriend descending into the basement, with the same sounds continuing for about half an hour before he returned and said they had to go.
bartnik’s remains have never been recovered but four co-accused currently await trial for first-degree murder — daniel gerow, jeffrey dorman, elizabeth gaudette (aka elizabeth hillman) and samantha sweetman.
originally also charged with murder, plumb agreed in the fall to cooperate with police and pleaded guilty on jan. 21 to a single count of accessory after the fact to murder.
sentencing plumb on thursday, justice hebner spoke of the events that night, “when she heard the victim screaming and she did nothing. i find this reprehensible.”
advertisement
while plumb’s conduct was “not part of the offence,” the judge added: “it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine a person with any empathy at all listening to the screams and doing nothing.”
with the courtroom’s public gallery packed with family and friends of the victim, the judge spoke at length as to why she was accepting a joint sentencing proposal by crown and defence that might appear at first blush to be lenient punishment given the gravity of the offence.
hebner handed plumb a two-year conditional sentence to be served at home.
with standard enhanced credit for 126 days spent in pre-plea custody, the offender has 541 days left to serve (as of thursday). the first 12 months will be house arrest with gps monitoring, and then an overnight 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew to follow for the remainder of the sentence.
while stating “there is significant aggravating circumstance in this case,” hebner also acknowledged plumb’s early guilty plea, lack of a prior criminal record, and “significant assistance” to police. her trial testimony as “a key witness,” the judge added, will be “crucial to the crown’s case.”
the court heard plumb is mother to three young children, their ages ranging from two months to four years old, has “substance abuse issues” and suffers from depression and “borderline personality disorder.”
advertisement
victim impact statements heard in january, at the time that crown and defence counsel presented their joint sentencing proposal, “clearly indicate that they (family and friends) do not agree with the sentence proposed,” hebner said.
windsor police issued this photo on may 25, 2024, with a plea for the public’s help in finding dalton bartnik, who was last seen in march. still missing, a number of people have since been arrested and charged in what investigators say was a case of murder.
photo courtesy of windsor police service
/
windsor star
the judge spoke of shattered lives in the wake of the savage killing — including a mother who cries every day and is “still not functioning;” and a sister who has become “an angry and broken version of herself,” suffering nightmares, panic attacks and constant anxiety.
dalton bartnik was described as someone “full of life” with a contagious laugh and “heart of gold” who would help anyone and whose absence has “clearly ripped a hole in the entire family.”
but the judge said “there is no evidence that ms. plumb participated in the killing or knew of the killing until after it had occurred. there is no evidence that she knows where the body is.
“her involvement was limited to providing cleaning supplies and a vehicle to the persons who are believed to be the murderers.”
in her decision on punishment, hebner cited prior canadian case law and legal principles to explain that “a sentence must be proportionate to the gravity of the offence and degree of responsibility of the offender.”
advertisement
the supreme court of canada, she added, has set a high threshold for a judge to depart from a joint submission, and only in rare circumstances. “i cannot find that the proposed sentence would be viewed by reasonable and informed people as a breakdown in the proper functioning of the justice system,” she said.
had it not been for the offender’s assistance to police and crown, however, hebner said she would have sentenced plumb to a penitentiary term of three to five years for her role.
the crown’s case against the co-accused remains in the early stages before the courts, with a preliminary hearing yet to be set.
share story
