Paige Havell, 27, still has a bullet lodged in her side, nearly three years after being shot by her then romantic partner.
“I remember the flash of the gun and then me waking up, not being able to move,” said Havell, a St. Thomas, woman now living in an assisted living facility in London.
Paralyzed from her chest down, and with post traumatic stress disorder, Havell still has trouble closing her eyes without flashing back to the moment her life changed forever.
“I was shot three times in the back and left paralyzed, waiting for help for about three hours,” said Havell.
On May 16, 2023, Havell and James Alexander Brown got into an argument in her apartment at 341 Talbot St.
Not wanting Brown to live with her permanently, she tried to kick him out of the apartment, then went into her room to get dressed.
He then shot her multiple times, and she fell onto her bed. She lay there in a pool of her own blood.
“I was screaming for help, but nobody heard me,” said Havell. “I guess I just kept passing in and out of consciousness.”
Both of her lungs collapsed. The bones in her shoulder and arm were broken, and her spinal cord was severed.
Brown took off, and after police pursued him around the city, he was apprehended and arrested with a 9 mm firearm.
At the time of the shooting, Brown had 61 prior convictions in southwestern Ontario for property and violent crime.
“This is a prolific offender, and we are glad he is in custody,” St. Thomas Police Chief Mark Roskamp told CTV News after the arrest.
Brown faced charges of attempted murder, possession of a firearm contrary to prohibition order, possession of a loaded firearm and carrying a concealed weapon.
On Nov. 1, 2024, he was convicted by a jury of the lesser charge of discharging a firearm with intent to wound and possession of a loaded restricted firearm.
He was also acquitted of unlawfully killing Havell’s dog after it was determined the dog attacked Brown following the shooting.
After the trial, the Crown began the process of having Brown sentenced as a dangerous offender. That decision will come May 7 in a St. Thomas courtroom.
Superior Court Justice Joseph Perfetto will have a couple of options.
“One is an indeterminate sentence as a dangerous offender, that would mean he would be in prison indefinitely,” said Havell.
“The lesser sentence could be like maybe eight years. But the crappy thing about that is so when you’re in prison, you get time served taken off, so he would get three years taken off so that wouldn’t leave a whole lot of sentence left,” she continued.
With no accessible apartments available in St. Thomas, Havell has been living more than a half hour away from family in northeast London.
She describes it as tough because she’s a young woman and many of the other residents are seniors, or people suffering from mental health issues.
“I’m reliant on staff to get me in and out of bed, to get me dressed, showered and like basic things people take for granted,” said Havell. “If I want to get into bed, the staff have to put me in a sling and physically lift me up. When I’m in bed, they have to take off my clothes. My injury is permanent and I’m going to be like this till the day I die.”
As Brown awaits his future, she knows hers has been forever altered.
“James took away my future,” said Havell. “I don’t think I’ll ever have kids. I’m in prison and I don’t get parole. I hope he gets an indeterminate sentence so nobody else has to worry about this ever happening to them.”
