Fredericton man tried to kill wife with sword, pickaxe after argument over sex

A Fredericton man tried to kill his wife with a 30-pound decorative sword and a 36-inch pickaxe after they argued about sex, provincial court heard on Tuesday.

Clarke Stephen Yeomans, 31, pleaded guilty Oct. 11 to attempted murder and unlawful confinement, but details of the brutal Jan. 6 attack at the couple's home on the city's north side were revealed for the first time during the sentencing hearing.

Crown prosecutor Christopher Lavigne told the court police found Tanya Yeomans on the couch the morning of Jan. 7 with a wound that pierced through her abdomen to her back, narrowly missing a major artery; puncture wounds to her hip; a gaping wound above her ear and lacerations on her neck and arms.

Her left eye was swollen shut, she had bruises "head to toe" and was covered in dried blood, said Lavigne.

The couple's 21-month-old daughter was beside her on the floor, he said, as Clarke Yeomans listened from the prisoner's box, occasionally shaking his head.

He was found fit to stand trial in January, following a five-day psychiatric assessment.

On the evening of Jan. 6, the couple had been drinking wine and playing video games together when they decided to have sex and an argument ensued around 11:30 p.m., the courtroom heard.

Tanya Yeomans, whose name was previously under a publication ban that was lifted Tuesday, told authorities "something snapped" inside her husband. It was "like a light switch had been flipped."

He grabbed the sword  — a replica of one in the action-adventure videogame series The Legend of Zelda — and tried to stab her.

She grabbed onto the blade to try to protect herself. Then he pinned her down and struck her repeatedly with the sword. "I don't know how many times."

I said, 'Clarke, you're going to kill me!' And he replied, 'It doesn't f--king matter, we're all going to die anyways.'- Tanya Yeomans, victim

She called out for help and could hear their daughter screaming and crying in the other room.

Somehow, she managed to get away from her husband, but he dragged her back down the hallway and started beating her with the sword again — both the flat and the sharp edge.

At one point, he switched to the pickaxe, the Crown prosecutor said, noting there were "actually parts of the victim's flesh" found on the "sharper, business end."

She tried to run out of the house, but he grabbed her by the neck, choked her and smashed her head into the floor.

When she saw her blood pooling on the floor, she started to wonder if she would survive.

"I said, 'Clarke, you're going to kill me!' And he replied, 'It doesn't f--king matter, we're all going to die anyways,'" the Crown prosecutor quoted Tanya Yeomans as saying.

Her husband prevented her from calling an ambulance because he didn't want to go to jail. He broke her cellphone in half and disconnected the internet connections.

He continued to beat her throughout the night as she fell in and out of consciousness.

Once he had calmed down, he told her he would "take care of her." He put a bandage on her head and tried to clean up the bloody scene.

"In her mind, he was more concerned about going to jail than his wife dying on the floor," Lavigne told the court.

'No one's going to save you'

She was cold, shaking and could barely keep her eyes open. She put pressure on her hip wounds and pleaded with her husband to let her call for help, saying she was afraid she was going to bleed out.

"He said something along the lines of 'No one's going to save you,'" the prosecutor recounted.

They both passed out around 4 a.m.

It wasn't until 10 a.m. that Tanya Yeomans was finally able to call 911. She reported her husband had overdosed on pills, then added that she was bleeding severely and needed an ambulance.

Clarke Yeomans was blood spattered and disoriented when police arrived. He later said he took nine of his prescription heart pills that night.

Police said blood was "smeared" throughout the home, with an "extensive amount" in the master bedroom and ensuite, and Tanya Yeomans was in "great distress."

Clarke Yeomans, who has been in custody since his arrest in January and ordered to have no contact with his wife, is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 18 at 1:30 p.m.

Judge Julian Dickson said he's facing a "lengthy term of incarceration."