SAO rules Lehigh Acres stabbing as justifiable homicide

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla.- A woman who killed her husband was acting in self-defense.

The State Attorney’s Office (SAO) says Anita Borcher was justified when she stabbed her husband Gary Helms back in February.

Borcher is sharing her story and a message for other women in abusive relationships only to WINK News.

She says the past two months haven’t been easy, she’s lost sleep and has felt ill.

But Borcher says she had no other choice on the morning of February 11. She says it was her life, or his.

“Relieved.”

That’s the first word that comes to Borcher’s mind now that her actions have been justified by the SAO.

Deputies say Borcher and Helms were fighting at their home on Gunby Drive. Things became physical and that’s when Helms grabbed a knife. Borcher was able to get the knife away from her husband and stabbed him once.

“I would give anything for him to be alive right now and the situation be different.”

Borcher says their relationship was abusive.

“I was on my way to get a restraining order, that’s when everything happened.”

She also says this was the third time she feared for her life while the two were married.

“I was scared. I wouldn’t be here today talking to you if I hadn’t done what I did.”

Now she hopes to prevent other women from finding themselves in a similar situation.

“You need to get out as soon as possible. Now, yesterday, don’t wait. Don’t procrastinate.”

WINK News reached out to the Helms’ family, but we have not heard back.