Teen gets probation for pulling knife on taxi driver

A 16-year-old girl was sentenced to one year of probation with 50 hours of community service in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday after she threatened a taxi driver with a knife.

The teen pleaded not guilty to robbery but guilty to the lesser charge of assault with a weapon, along with two counts of breaching court orders.

The Sun is prohibited from identifying the teen under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

The Crown and defence jointly recommended a sentence of two years of supervised probation with community service. However, defence asked the judge to impose 40 to 50 hours of community service as opposed to the Crown’s recommendation of 80.

Crown attorney Easton Lacey detailed the facts behind the guilty pleas.

On Nov. 30, 2025, an ABC Taxi driver went to Brandon Police Service headquarters and gave a statement.

He told police he picked up a teenage boy and a teenage girl from the YMCA of Brandon, and they had asked him to bring them to Sobeys, court heard.

Once they got to Sobeys, the two teens got out of the car and tried to run away without paying their fare, Lacey said.

The driver “cut off” the girl from running and asked her to pay the fare, Lacey said. The teen responded by pulling a knife out of her waistband and pointing it at him, the Crown said.

“She was outside of the vehicle, pointing it at the driver through the passenger-side window,” the Crown said. “Scared for his safety, the driver then drove away.”

During the investigation, Lacey said an officer called the phone number that had been used to order the taxi, and the girl answered.

Police called the girl’s care worker, and he said she and a teen boy had run away from the home and he believed they were the suspects in the taxi incident, the Crown said.

Roughly a week later, the care worker called police and said he thought he knew where the girl was and provided them with an address in the city, where police found and arrested her, Lacey said.

The teen was released from custody on a release order that included a condition prohibiting her from having weapons.

On May 28, police were sent to the girl’s foster home after staff reported that they had found a knife in her room.

Police checked the room and found a knife, Lacey said. The teen was arrested and later released.

Lacey said the offence seemed to be planned, and “when confronted about it, she resorted to violence by pulling the knife out on the driver.”

Because of the circumstances and her “violent” criminal record, Lacey said the Crown contemplated custody. However, she said there were several potential issues with the Crown’s case, and after further discussion, the Crown found that probation was an alternative, she said.

Defence lawyer Jennifer Janssens said her client’s primary issue has been substance abuse, but she is now meeting with a counsellor and has agreed to go into a long-term residential treatment program.

“It’s her intention to attend the treatment program for a period of at least four months,” Janssens said.

She said it’s because of this that she asked for less community service hours than the Crown’s recommendation. She said her client is also working on completing community service hours from a previous probation order she was placed on.

“I know she’s motivated to be clean and sober going forward and would like to use the summer when she’s out of school to focus on her community service work,” Janssens said.

When given a chance to speak, the teen told Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta that she wants to go to treatment.

Hewitt-Michta encouraged the teen to stay sober and think about using her life experiences to help others who may be going through the same things.

She warned her that custody is a high possibility if she comes back before the court.

“As much as I like you, and as much as I believe in you … if you’re back in front of me again for something like this, I have a job to do and I’m going to do it.”

Hewitt-Michta sentenced the teen to one year of supervised probation, during which she will be required to complete 50 hours of community service.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com