ALFRED (AP) – A Biddeford man who stabbed his estranged wife in the back before stabbing himself twice in the heart has been handed a 10-year prison sentence.

Donald Ruck, 42, who had pleaded guilty in September to a charge of elevated aggravated assault, was sentenced Thursday following an emotional hearing in York County Superior Court.

Ruck stabbed Tara Ruck in the back on July 6, 2002, after she brought her apartment keys to her husband who had called to tell her he had been locked out, Assistant District Attorney Jeff Moskowitz told Justice G. Arthur Brennan. Tara Ruck was filing for divorce that summer and was living with family members.

Donald Ruck’s own set of keys were found inside the apartment where he had collapsed after stabbing himself in the heart twice before lying down next to Tara Ruck.

As Tara Ruck wept silently in the courtroom, her mother Terry Lambert recounted the minutes immediately after the stabbing. She said her daughter called her father while lying down.

“She said ‘I think I am dying. Please take care of Nicky (her daughter),’ ” said her mother.

Lambert said her daughter, who was hospitalized in intensive care for a week after the stabbing, continues to have pain.

“The impact has been on the whole family,” said Tony Lambert, Tara Ruck’s father.

Since the stabbing, Ruck has remained free on $150,000 bail while undergoing psychological evaluation and counseling.

Michael Bean, Ruck’s alcohol counselor, and several members of Alcoholics Anonymous urged Brennan to be lenient on Ruck, who they said had shown significant progress in recovering from long-term substance and alcohol abuse.

The judge said he was striking a balance between vindication for the victim and her family and trying not to kill Ruck’s spirit.

“The tragedy of this case is it was only after two people spent a week in intensive care that Mr. Ruck could make the commitment (to stay sober),” said Brennan.

Ruck faces six years of probation after he gets out of prison.

AP-ES-02-20-04 0217EST