Cocaine fight led to stabbing

A fight over spilled cocaine led a woman to stab her boyfriend in the abdomen outside a Kamloops hotel, a judge has ruled.

Jessica Marie Chaba, 28, was convicted Friday in Kamloops provincial court on one count of assault causing bodily harm. The Edmonton woman stood trial on Sept. 25.

Ryan Coupal, Chaba’s boyfriend at the time, walked into the Wingate by Wyndham hotel on Rogers Way on Nov. 10, 2022, with a stab wound to his midsection.

Moments earlier, Chaba plunged what was described as a filleting knife into Coupal's abdomen while they argued in a vehicle parked just outside the hotel, in which they were staying.

At trial, Chaba admitted to stabbing Coupal, but said she was acting in self-defence. She said she was being held against her will and was fearful for her life.

Coupal told a different story. He said he and Chaba were arguing about her cocaine use when he flipped over a tray, spilling approximately three grams of cocaine Chaba had very recently purchased.

Coupal said Chaba then “lost it” and began to attack him, eventually stabbing him.

In her decision on Friday, Kamloops provincial court Judge Lorianna Bennett dismissed Chaba’s testimony as “unbelievable.”

Bennett said she believed Coupal’s story about the spilled cocaine sending Chaba into a rage.

“That is what set Ms. Chaba off, not any fear she had of Mr. Coupal at the time,” she said. “I am not satisfied that Ms. Chaba’s actions were reasonable in the circumstances.”

Chaba became upset in court on Friday while Bennett read her decision. Court was briefly halted to allow her to regain her composure.

Lawyers will return to court on Nov. 25 to set a date for her sentencing. Chaba is not in custody.