Threats, assault net man three months in jail

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on December 15, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A 29-year-old man who threatened to stab members of his family in 2019 and violently attacked a woman who was camping southeast of Pincher Creek in 2020, has been sent to jail for three months.

Brandon Edward Knife was sentenced Tuesday in Lethbridge provincial court where he pleaded guilty to charges of assault and assault with a weapon.

On April 2, 2019 Knife threatened family members with a knife during a dispute in a basement suite on the westside. Court was told Knife grabbed a butcher knife and “charged” at his father and sister, but no one was stabbed.

Another sister took Knife’s infant daughter from him and Knife assaulted her while she was holding the child. She told police she had also grabbed Knife’s arm when he charged his sister and father, and he made a stabbing motion toward her.

Knife threatened to stab his father if he didn’t drive him to Standoff, and they were gone before police arrived. Knife was arrested shortly afterward, however, after police conducted a traffic stop.

Crown Prosecutor James Rouleau said Knife admitted he tried to scare his family with a pipe and knife, and that he “elbowed” his sister, but he didn’t intend to hurt anyone. He also wrote his family a letter apologizing to them.

Just over a year later, on July 31, 2020, Pincher Creek RCMP police were called to an assault at the Waterton Reservoir Provincial Recreation Area, where Knife grabbed a female camper from behind, picked her up and threw her to the ground then kicked her several times. Nearby campers responded to her cries for help and Knife was subsequently arrested.

Court was told Knife and the woman knew each other but were not in a domestic relationship.

Knife also pleaded guilty to one count of breaching probation for missing numerous appointments with his probation supervisor and for failing to attend for assessment, counselling and treatment for psychiatric and psychological issues, anger management, domestic violence and substance abuse.

Lethbridge lawyer Marcus Mueller explained Knife, who was born in Edmonton but raised in Standoff, lived in foster homes between the age of four and six, during which he was abused. He began drinking when he was 14 and he also struggles with drug abuse.

“He does feel in recent years he has a handle on it,” Mueller said, noting that the charges are old and his relationship with his family has since changed and he is doing better.

In addition to his jail sentence, Knife will be on probation for one year following his release, during which he is to be assessed and take counselling for anger management and other issues as directed by probation. He is also to abstain from consuming alcohol and drugs, and from possessing weapons.

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