Woman sentenced for mischief, assaulting officer
By Shurtz, Delon on August 22, 2020.
Delon Shurtz
lethbridge herald
A 35-year-old woman who struggles with drug addiction and mental health issues was handed a jail sentence Thursday, but she won’t serve anymore time behind bars.
Heather Laura Cable was sentenced to four months in jail following a sentencing hearing Thursday in Lethbridge provincial court. However, because she had already served the equivalent of that time in pre-trial custody since May, her sentence was deemed completed.
Cable pleaded guilty to several counts of mischief, as well as charges of assaulting a peace officer, assault with a weapon and drug possession.
The mischief charges stem from incidents in 2019 and earlier this year in which she was found living in a vacant residence; was caught in a residential garage where she had urinated and defecated on the floor; was caught sleeping in the laundry room at an apartment complex; and attempted to unlawfully enter another person’s residence.
When police searched her following the attempted break-in, they found a small amount of methamphetamine.
Cable assaulted a peace officer last December when she was under the influence of an intoxicating substance and refused to leave a city restaurant. When police arrived she resisted arrest and spit on an officer.
And in May of this year she was in the apartment complex in which she had been sleeping, when she encountered one of the residents. She grabbed a fire extinguisher and sprayed the contents all over the wall and floor. The resident wasn’t hit with the spray, but had difficulty breathing because of the fumes, court was told.
Lethbridge lawyer Claudia Connolly said Cable was reasonable and co-operative while they worked to resolve her charges, despite her difficulties. Connolly confirmed her client suffers from mental health issues, but was doing well until she began abusing substances some years ago.
In addition to her jail sentence, Cable was placed on probation for a year, during which she must be assessed and take counselling and treatment for anger management, substance abuse and life skills. She must also live where required by her probation officer, and provide a sample of her DNA for the National DNA Databank.
Connolly said Cable will stay at the shelter and “will try to comply” with her probation order, despite the “bad” influence of people who take advantage of her, and the challenges she faces trying to make good decisions.
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