Woman gets 9 months for biting other woman’s lip

A woman who pleaded guilty to assaulting another woman by repeatedly biting her lip was sentenced to nine months in custody in Brandon provincial court on Monday.

Roxanne Shingoose, 37, pleaded guilty to a single count of assault on Monday. She had initially been charged with sexual assault, but the Crown accepted a guilty plea to assault instead, in what the Crown described as a “true plea bargain.”

The Crown and defence jointly recommended a time-served sentence of nine months, followed by two years of unsupervised probation.

Crown attorney Nikki Boggs outlined the circumstances of the offence.

On June 1, 2023, a woman was at a gas station in Erickson when she saw Shingoose, her boyfriend and another woman she didn’t know in a vehicle. She agreed to have a drink with them back at the man’s house, as she thought he was still living in Erickson.

The victim, Shingoose and the man took turns drinking from a bottle of vodka while on the way to the man’s home, which was in Rolling River. When they got to the house, they continued to drink outside.

In a statement to police, the victim said Shingoose started to “come on to her,” kissing her and telling her she was beautiful. The group eventually moved inside the home, and the man suggested they have a threesome.

The victim declined and laughed it off.

The three of them went to the man’s bedroom, where Shingoose started kissing her and bit her lip, Boggs said.

“She describes it as being bit quite hard and being bit multiple times. (The victim) was trying to pull away, and does tell Miss Shingoose that it hurt,” Boggs said.

The Crown said photos showed that the victim had a “fat lip” as a result.

Boggs said the incident carried on with the man sexually assaulting the victim by digitally penetrating her. He was convicted of sexual assault and received a 30-month sentence.

She said Shingoose took responsibility for biting the victim’s lip by pleading guilty and said it could have been risky for the Crown if the matter was set down for trial.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison said his client felt bad about the incident, and if she was sober, it wouldn’t have happened.

He said Shingoose has Gladue factors, including that her grandparents attended residential school. Her grandparents took over raising her at a young age, but before that there was alcohol and violence in the home, court heard.

Harrison said Shingoose had gone through treatment before but relapsed before this offence. He said she wants to get back in touch with a treatment centre going forward.

Judge Robert Heinrichs said the joint recommendation was appropriate but warned Shingoose that the outcome could have been worse for her.

“Sometimes when people are drinking a lot, they make a lot of bad decisions, and it sounds like one thing led to another in this particular case,” he said. “I hope you take up pursuing some treatment so that you don’t have to worry about this kind of situation again.”

» sanderson@brandonsun.com