(Jun 25, 2009)

The last of four women who inflicted deadly retribution for an earlier act of domestic violence has admitted her guilt and been sentenced to 15 months in jail.

Cheryl Anderson, 33, pleaded not guilty to manslaughter but guilty to the lesser and included offence of aggravated assault.

Anderson told Ontario Court Justice John Takach she genuinely wished she could take back that day -- Oct. 25, 2008 -- when Ferenc Pal, 48, was beaten, stabbed in the buttock and bled to death on his kitchen floor.

Her lawyer, Sandra Antoniani, said Anderson did not know that Pal had been stabbed by his common-law wife Connie Scrivens, 37, when she, Scrivens and Anderson's two cousins, Melissa Anderson, 27, and Bonnie Anderson, 30, fled the victim's Cannon Street East apartment.

The four women had been drinking for several hours at a friend's house earlier and had talked about the ugly bruises on Scrivens' face, which Pal had caused two nights earlier by punching her during a heated argument.

The group, accompanied by a male acquaintance, John Williams, eventually piled into a taxi and went to Pal's apartment.

On their arrival, the Anderson women angrily confronted Pal, who also had been drinking. A noisy, riotous fight broke out.

The women began punching and kicking him. Pal picked up a butcher knife, which Williams attempted to grab from him, suffering several deep cuts to his hand and forearm.

Bleeding heavily, Williams left directly for the hospital.

The melee moved into the kitchen, where Pal reportedly grabbed Cheryl Anderson by her hair and punched her in the face.

Scrivens would later tell police that was when she picked up a knife from the kitchen counter and drove it deep into Pal's left buttock.

Scrivens grabbed her bag and her dog and she and the other women fled the apartment to continue their drinking at several local bars.

At about 10:30 a.m. the next day, Pal's roommate found his lifeless body lying face down on his kitchen floor, partially covered by a blanket.

The judge said Pal might be alive today if Cheryl Anderson and her cousins had not started the fight. But to her credit, said Takach, the woman had no prior criminal record. He handed her a sentence equivalent to 15 months in jail, along with the maximum three years' probation.

Scrivens, who pleaded guilty earlier this month to manslaughter, was sentenced to seven years in prison.

Melissa Anderson and Bonnie Anderson got 27 months and 19 months respectively for aggravated assault, along with probation.

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