Woman eager to turn life around after release

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This article was published 03/04/2023 (1266 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A woman who sprayed a man with bear spray and walked Brandon streets with a replica BB gun in her purse credits an addictions program in jail for her rehabilitation.

Kaley Bell pleaded guilty to various weapons, theft and failure to attend court charges on Thursday.

Appearing from the Women’s Correctional Centre in Headingley by video, Bell is looking forward to her release thanks to the Walking Bear Therapeutic Community addictions treatment programming she participated in while behind bars for nearly five months.

“In a way, I’m thankful for coming here,” Bell said from inside a room at WCC.

The most serious charge on Bell’s record before the court on Thursday occurred in October 2020. Virden RCMP received a report that Bell and a man had gone to a home of four people armed with bear spray and shanks.

Taking statements from red-eyed bear mace victims inside the house, the Mounties learned that Bell had stayed over the previous night and drank until she became intoxicated.

A drunken altercation broke out that night, during which Bell grabbed the can of bear mace and sprayed it, targeting one man inside the house in particular. Other members of the household were maced as they tried to protect the man from the spray. RCMP also learned that Bell had slapped her victim around in addition to using the bear spray on him.

“Specific and general deterrence is of the highest order because we’re seeing the use of the bear mace far too much,” Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup told the court. “It’s an extremely dangerous substance, and I think a message needs to go that there’s going to be jail when someone uses it.”

One month of Bell’s jail time was specifically for her use of bear spray.

In the same year, Bell was caught stealing from the 18th Street Dollarama. Bell walked into the store, put numerous items totalling around $112 into gift bags and walked out of the store without paying. When Brandon police caught up with her a block away from the store, they observed that she appeared to be intoxicated by a drug.

During the course of arresting Bell for the theft, police found her to also have stolen items on her. She had the vehicle registration, garage door opener and some papers that had been stolen from the truck of a Brandon resident.

A can of bear spray was involved during another instance when police ran into Bell. This time, Bell was found heavily intoxicated in the lobby of a seniors complex. Police noted that she smelled of bear mace and found a canister of the bear deterrent in her purse.

Then in February 2022, police would meet up with Bell again after being called to the Brandon Friendship Centre as Bell was wanted on a warrant. During a search, police found a black BB handgun in the main compartment of Bell’s purse. The gun was not loaded and was later discovered to be replica of a real gun.

“We have charges that are two and half years old that would never have been resolved if she simply hadn’t been arrested on these charges as she was not turning herself,” Lonstrup said, referring to the dozen of failure to attend court charges Bell racked up in between her other criminal offences.

Bell’s defence lawyer, Bob Harrison, told the court that much of Bell’s crimes happened when she was homeless and her mind was preoccupied with figuring out where to get food or shelter rather than her court dates.

“It changes your whole perspective on how you view things when it’s that type of situation,” he said, noting that Bell told him her criminal actions were more for survival than for profit.

Harrison said that his client told him that she fell victim to street drugs and carried bear spray to protect herself from the violence she saw while she was on the streets.

Harrison told the court that Bell, who is Indigenous, told him that her life growing up was “sad and confusing.” Her mother struggled with alcohol addiction and was abused by many of her partners. The abuse against her mother, including physical abuse that would leave her mother’s blood on the floor, as well as sexual abuse would often take place in the home.

As a child, Bell would take her sibling with her and hide in the closet while her mother was being abused.

Harrison said that the programming Bell has taken part in during her time in jail has helped provide her with a more positive outlook on life and he says she wants to go to school to become a counsellor and use her own experience to help other people.

“I have a way different outlook on life now,” Bell told the court. “I actually have hope for the future. Before I didn’t and that’s why I really didn’t care a lot or [care about] what I would do.”

Bell spoke about the Walking Bear Therapeutic Community program, which was introduced to WCC in 2020, allowing her to live in separate housing from the jail and as part of a community where she would participate in regular counselling. She said that once released she’ll be in a better position to be more involved in the lives of her five children as well as plan out a productive future for herself.

“I was scared to be sick withdrawing from drugs, but now that I’m clean, that’s the only thing that was stopping me before,” Bell said.

Judge John Combs said he was pleased to hear that Bell had been working to better herself while in custody, but he reminded her that her work will need to continue once she leaves jail.

“You’re going to have a tremendous challenge when you’re released,” Combs told Bell. “Because all of the temptations that you had before are still going to be out there.”

Ultimately, Combs supported the Crown and defence’s recommendation of a time-served sentence of four months in jail. Bell will also be subject to a one-year probation term.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com