A 41-year-old woman who stabbed her husband at their Norwich apartment in November 2018 received a fully suspended prison sentence Monday in New London Superior Court.

Bonnie E. Rankin, also known as Bonnie Stupplebean, had previously pleaded guilty to second-degree assault.

She successfully completed substance abuse treatment while her case was pending and has since divorced the victim, according to court documents. Judge Hillary B. Strackbein issued a protective order prohibiting her from contact with the ex-husband for three years.

According to a report written by Norwich Police Officer Robert McKinney, police were dispatched to 31 Page St. at 6:13 p.m. on Nov. 28, 2018 for a disturbance. They found Rankin on her knees, crying in the doorway to the master bedroom, and her husband lying face down. He had suffered a minor laceration to the upper abdomen and refused to provide information, saying he was fine and just needed to "get out." He was taken to the William W. Backus Hospital for treatment.

Rankin provided several different stories to police, saying initially that her husband had stabbed himself accidentally, then blaming the assault on gang members targeting her teenage son, according to the report. She also said she was sleeping when her husband came home and that he had been stabbed when she woke up. 

According to the report, she called her stepfather and told him she had stabbed her husband because she was tired of him beating her up. Her mother told police she feared the couple's fighting would continue until one of them was dead.

Once in police custody, Rankin attempted to tie her shirt around the bars of her cell and around her neck, according to the report.

c.bessette@theday.com