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House arrest for Switzer Avenue stabbing

Michael Allan Froese was previously convicted of manslaughter in another stabbing.
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Abbotsford Police were on the scene last August of a stabbing on Switzer Avenue.

Despite a criminal record that includes a conviction for manslaughter, Michael Allan Froese won’t serve any time in prison for a 2013 stabbing.

On Monday, Froese was handed a 15-month conditional sentence Monday for his role in an August 10, 2013 incident in which a 33-year-old man was stabbed three times, including twice in the back.

Police had been called to the 33500 block of Switzer Avenue, where they found the victim suffering from stab wounds.

The man was taken to hospital with critical injuries, but survived.

Froese, 30, pleaded guilty last April to assault causing bodily harm.

The sentence – which was part of a joint submission by Crown and the defence – will see Froese serve his time under house arrest.

Judge Steven Point said he was initially surprised by Crown counsel’s participation in calling for house arrest.

“My inclination was to deny it, listening here about your history,” Point told the court.

Froese had previously served time for a 2009 fatal stabbing during an altercation at a home on Hopedale Crescent, which took the life of Paul Denis.

Froese pleaded guilty to manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison.

He was released in September 2012.

Point said that he was persuaded to hand down a community sentence by submissions maintaining that Froese had both kicked a methamphetamine habit and confronted the psychological issues that led him to turn to the drug in the first place.

Froese’s lawyer said his client has been clean for 15 months, and Point read letters from family members that testified to a change in his character.

Froese’s mother wrote: “I believe with all my heart that this time, he’s changed.”

Court also heard that Froese is now working two jobs and has become a better father to his two sons.

“It doesn’t happen very often to see someone who’s rehabilitating themselves as you have,” Point said. ‘I hope I don’t see you back here.”