Brandishing knife lands conditional sentence

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This article was published 13/07/2021 (1659 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A woman who pointed a knife at a loss prevention officer during a shoplifting attempt was given 10-month conditional sentence on Monday morning.

Katherine Brunet, 30, pleaded guilty to charges from multiple incidents in Brandon provincial court.

On Dec. 19, 2019 a loss prevention officer at Real Canadian Superstore reported a woman tried to steal various items from the store, according to Brunet’s pre-sentence report.

The loss prevention officer showed police surveillance video of Brunet in the store gathering items. She put items in a blue tote bag and grocery bags and put the bags in the bottom of her cart, the report reads.

She went to the cashier and paid for some items, but not the ones in the bottom of her cart.

According to the report, two loss prevention officers followed her outside the store to explain she didn’t pay for everything, but she became aggressive. At the time, she was with a man who was trying to calm her down.

Brunet told the loss prevention officers “Get out of my way,” and “I’m not going to deal with the cops again,” the report says. She then pulled a knife from her jacket pocket and pointed it at one of the store security guards, who backed off.

She then left with an unknown amount of items from the store.

Police patrolled the area but weren’t able to find her until later, according to the report. 

Brunet also pleaded guilty to another shoplifting incident from December 2019 and giving police a fake name and date of birth in May 2020.

Crown attorney Brett Rach said he believes Brunet was caught in a cycle at the time of addiction and bad mental health, but has since improved.

“She’s a vulnerable individual that ended up in this cycle because she was not managing her mental health … using illicit substances which makes the cycle terrible,” he told the court.

Rach suggested a 15-month conditional sentence order for all the charges, which is a jail sentence served in the community. 

Defence lawyer Kaitlynn Porath said Brunet had a tough childhood and trauma was a big obstacle in her life.

She acknowledged Brunet did use drugs to help cope, but has turned her life around through more stable housing and counselling.

Porath asked for a nine-month conditional sentence, saying it would be a deterrent while also not setting her back in her accomplishments.

Speaking to the court, Brunet apologized to the people she hurt and said she wasn’t in the right state of mind at the time. She said she has goals and knows she needs to follow through with them to be a better person.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said she was most concerned Brunet pointed a knife at the loss prevention officer and appeared to be operating in “crisis mode” at the time. Despite this, she has made positive changes motivated by her children.

“With the strides she’s taken recently I think she’s demonstrated the court can take a chance on her at this point in time and try a conditional sentence order,” Hewitt-Michta said.

Hewitt-Michta said Brunet has the skills she needs to succeed in life and in the community, but warned her of “swift and harsh” consequences if she doesn’t follow the rules of the sentence.

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