By Rob Drinkwater An appeal court in Alberta has nearly doubled the sentence for a man who cut off a woman’s finger and then forced her to eat her own severed digit, saying in a ruling that the original judge downplayed the victim’s suffering and terror. Stephen Ralph Potts was convicted of aggravated assault after inviting an Indigenous woman to his home in the northern community of Chateh and attacking her in April 2024. Court heard during trial that Potts, who is also Indigenous, punched the woman repeatedly in the face without warning or provocation, breaking bones. He then ordered her to splay out her fingers, saying he was going to cut off her finger. When she relented, he severed the upper joint in her pinky and then made her… <\/p>\n
By Rob Drinkwater An appeal court in Alberta has nearly doubled the sentence for a man who cut off a woman’s finger and then forced her to eat her own severed digit, saying in a ruling that the original judge downplayed the victim’s suffering and terror. Stephen Ralph Potts was convicted of aggravated assault after inviting an Indigenous woman to his home in the northern community of Chateh and attacking her in April 2024. Court heard during trial that Potts, who is also Indigenous, punched the woman repeatedly in the face without warning or provocation, breaking bones. He then ordered her to splay out her fingers, saying he was going to cut off her finger. When she relented, he severed the upper joint in her pinky and then made her... <\/p>\n