Woman gets jail for attack at homeless shelter

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on July 7, 2022.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

Attacking an employee of the homeless shelter with a knife has earned a Lethbridge woman a five-month jail sentence.
Tia Cyanne Davis was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty in Lethbridge provincial court to a charge of assault with a weapon.
Davis, 20, was at the shelter on April 27 and became involved in an altercation with another person. Davis was yelling and grew increasingly aggressive, prompting an employee to intervene. The employee told Davis to quiet down, and when she continued to advance toward the other person, she was told to leave the shelter.
Davis, however, grabbed a pair of scissors from a nearby counter and began waving them around. The employee attempted to disarm her as she swung the scissors at him, and he was cut once above the eye and once on the edge of his nose.
“I’m going to say a scratch, it’s not a true laceration,” Crown Prosecutor Michael clarified.
The employee managed to grab the scissors and move Davis into the foyer where she was locked out of the shelter. Davis, who was still agitated, grabbed a baseball bat from her bag, causing the employee concern she might attack someone else, and he called the police.
At the time of the offence, Davis was subject to a release condition that prohibited her from possessing weapons. She pleaded guilty to a charge of failing to comply with a release order and was fined $500. Rather than pay the fine, however, she will serve the default time of four days in jail, which will run concurrently with the five-month sentence for assault causing bodily harm.
Defence told court Davis suffers from bipolar disorder, alcohol addiction and mental health issues, as well as intergenerational trauma, stemming from her grandparents’ involvement with residential schools.

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