The woman responsible for a bloody attack on a rival in a Vancouver court room with a hammer and fish knife has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars.
Qin Qin (Catherine) Shen was handed the stiff sentence for attempted murder on Thursday. With credit for time served, she will spend an additional eight years in prison.
She was convicted on four counts, including attempted murder, for the shocking attack on Jing (Becky) Lu that unfolded on May 25, 2021 at the B.C. Supreme Court in Vancouver.
Shen and Lu had been locked in a decade-long, bitter dispute being litigated in civil court. The two had initially met on a Chinese website meant to help new immigrants to connect, but their relationship descended into an ugly social media battle.
On the day of the attack, Shen entered the court carrying the hammer and knife in her purse.
Bag checks and metal detector screenings are not standard procedure at the court, and no one checked the contents of her purse.
Shen then stabbed Lu multiple times inside the courtroom, managing at least 10 blows with each weapon, according to evidence presented at her trial.
Lu suffered critical injuries, including wounds to the lung and heart area and a hammer blow to the head before sheriffs were able to disarm her.
At trial, Justice Catherine Denhoff rejected a defence argument that Shen was not criminally responsible due to a mental disorder.
Crown prosecutors had sought a sentence of 16 to 18 years, while Shen’s defence had argued for a six-year sentence.