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Kent inmate who slashed guard sentenced to seven years

Kevin Beaulieu used razor blade to cut neck and face of guard in June, 2012
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An inmate at Kent Institution slashed the face and neck of a female corrections officer with a razor blade on June 23

A Kent inmate has been sentenced to seven years for his violent slashing of a female guard in 2012.

Kevin Beaulieu was serving seven and a half years in Kent Institution, a maximum security prison located in the District of Kent. On June 23, 2012, Beaulieu slashed the face and neck of corrections officer Charmaine Weiss with a razor blade.

Beaulieu approached Weiss with a paper in his hand. As Weiss looked down, Beaulieu slashed her down her right cheek from just under her eye to under her chin.

"It felt like my whole face split open, and instantly there was just tons of blood," she told Black Press in July, 2012.

She was taken to the prison's health facility and an ambulance was called. But, the 'profuse bleeding' didn't stop the cut artery. An air ambulance took her to Royal Columbian Hospital where she underwent almost three hours of surgery. In total, she lost four litres of blood.

Beaulieu was heard after the incident commenting that it was a good day and that he said he would do it.

"He was also observed to be smiling and apparently pleased with himself," according to court documents. Later on he was heard bragging, "Almost killed her. Best day of my life."

Beaulieu, 43, grew up in Surrey, B.C. He started using cocaine as a teenager and began committing property crime. According to Justice Blok, Beaulieu's criminal record is "extensive." Offences include convictions for dangerous operation o a motor vehicle, property offence, robbery, arson, flight while being pursued by a police officer and mischief. He has 14 convictions for violent crimes, several that took place in prison.

The sentence, handed down last month in Chilliwack's Supreme Court, took into account sentences for other similar offences as well as the fact that the assault involved an element of premeditation, a random victim and an attack that met all three definitions of aggravated assault (wounding, maiming and disfiguring).

On February 11, 2015, Beaulieu pleaded guilty to the offence of aggravated assault.

Justice Blok reported that Weiss has had a severe and long-lasting impact from the assault. She suffers from stress, post-traumatic stress disorder, depression, panic attacks, flashbacks and more. She avoids social gatherings, she has suffered financially and those close to her say her personality has changed. She has a large, prominent scar down the whole side of her face and part of her neck which causes her discomfort.

Weiss went public with the incident in July, 2012 to highlight safety concerns at the maximum-security institution. At the time, she reported that she wished to remain working as a correctional officer. However, court documents state she has gone from working a a maximum-security institution to a minimum-security one but "this too has apparently proven too much for her and it appears that her career in Corrections, a career that she trained for and loved, may well be over."