With 12 convictions already under his belt, including almost killing his ex-girlfriend in 2018, Tariq St. Croix has caught another 120 days, and will still be out later this year.
Despite being under two no-contact orders, on New Year’s Eve in 2018, Tariq St. Croix broke into his pregnant ex-girlfriend, Marina’s, apartment (last name withheld by Yellowknifer).
In a jealous rage, he grabbed a steak knife and stabbed at her vital organs while she clutched one of her children and another looked on. The attack was prolonged, bloody, and brutal. Marina barely survived and lives with chronic pain four years on. He is due out in 105 days, she tells me: “I have a countdown on my clock.”
For this crime, St. Croix accepted a plea deal reducing his charge from attempted murder to aggravated assault for which he received the five-year custodial sentence at North Slave Correctional Complex and three on probation. He also received a lifetime ban on owning firearms and agreed not to return to the NWT upon release.
His called the sentence “a joke,” says the mother of five. She hasn’t been able to move from the apartment where she was attacked and fears his return. The NYE attempt on her life was one of several, she says.
St. Croix was due to be released on May 2, 2022 but that date will be extended due to a new conviction.
On Jan. 20, St. Croix let out a laboured “yes” in Territorial Criminal Court and pled guilty to threatening the life of a Peace Officer on two separate occasions. The judge added 120 to his current sentence. It could also be the final nail in the coffin on his immigration status that was not automatically revoked due to his Refugee Status.
According to the Crown Prosecutor, on July 14 and July 20, St. Croix told a Peace Officer “I can escape this place whenever I want”, “[I’ll] [expletive] kill you” and “I’m going to waste you.”
Through his defender, St. Croix claimed his verbal attacks were done in “frustration” from being targeted with racial slurs. The judge acknowledged the impact of such treatment but found retaliation with threats unacceptable, “Those are crimes of violence as well,” he told St. Croix.
During his sentencing it was revealed St. Croix had 12 prior convictions, five for violent offences —including the NYE stabbing—and two for uttering threats. The details of the attempted murder where not revealed in court and were noted a “the break and enter with underlying violence.”
The Prosecutor outlined the “collateral consequences” of his case, the most significant is that he will face immigration officials upon his release, and this time, the law may not be so lenient. “I think he should have been deported long ago,” said Marina. If he did, Marina said she’d return to university: “I would finally be able to pick up from where I left off. Before he stabbed me.”