A Provincial Court judge postponed sentencing of a woman after she pleaded guilty July 29 to assault with a weapon and breaching a probation order by having a knife.
Shenoa Rose Thomas, 22, was arrested after stabbing a man at the front desk of the Mark’s Place Shelter before 5 p.m. on New Year’s Day. Thomas, who was also charged with assault causing bodily harm, remains in custody.
Court heard that Thomas had been asked by the man working at the front desk, a refugee from Nigeria, to leave because she had broken the rules by smoking in her room. Thomas left, but returned a few hours later with a knife that she concealed. She proceeded to stab the man in the top of the shoulder. Luckily, his quick reaction left him with a minor injury.
Crown prosecutor Tyson Gamble proposed a two-year sentence followed by 18 months of probation. Defence lawyer Hailey Friesen said Thomas should get one year in jail. Both jail sentences would have been reduced by credit for time served since Jan. 1.
Judge Michael Brecknell spent the lunch recess deciding whether to reserve decision for a later date or to order further reports. He came back in the afternoon to announce the latter. Brecknell said he accepts that “Thomas has had a horrendous background,” but he wanted to know if that was the result of birth trauma or too much drugs. So he ordered Thomas to undergo psychological and psychiatric examinations and set Oct. 21 as her next court date.
“She has indicated on numerous occasions that she has no interest in any sort of treatment, rehabilitative processes, counselling, anything like that,” Brecknell said.
Brecknell said the pre-sentencing reports, including one about the impact of her Indigenous suffering, were adequate. He determined he could not impose a fit and proper sentence without an expert report about her mental state and whether she could be treated by therapy or prescriptions. Brecknell also ordered an analysis of Thomas’s risk to reoffend.
Gamble called Thomas’s history, including heroin and crystal meth use at age 12, “sad.” However, he said “her record is extremely violent. Short as it may be, it's some three pages.”
The crimes include theft under $5,000 and arson to an inhabited property in 2021 and a 2022 robbery in Prince George. The arson involved lighting a mattress on fire and covering a smoke alarm.
While in Colony Farm in Port Coquitlam for a mental fitness assessment in 2024, she attacked and assaulted two female psychiatric nurses, one of whom was pregnant.
“If, at the end of the day, all we can do to protect the public is warehouse Ms. Thomas, is two years in jail the adequate amount of time to protect the public?” Brecknell asked. “In other words, why did the Crown arrive at two years plus probation?”
