A 22-year-old man is going to jail for at least a year for the stabbing of a young woman who was five months pregnant.

On June 5, 2018, Benjamin Carter approached a woman he knew near a downtown Windsor bar.

The pair hugged and then for some unknown reason, he stabbed her on the left side of her neck.

She survived, as did her child, but not without two major surgeries and eight days in the ICU.

Justice Lloyd Dean accepted Carter's guilty plea for aggravated assault.

The Crown Attorney is asking for a sentence of four to five years, while the defence is seeking a term of 12 to 18 months.

No motive has been given for the stabbing, but defence lawyer Ken Marley says Carter had a rough up-bringing, was introduced to drugs at a young age and suffers from a mental health illness.

However, Crown Attorney Jamie Lesperance says Carter's record shows "escalating violence" because he already has four assault convictions and was on probation at the time of the stabbing.

Dean will give Carter his sentence on March 29.