Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
December 05, 2016 - 6:30 PM
LANGUAGE ADVISORY
KAMLOOPS - A Spences Bridge woman who was found guilty of yelling racial slurs at a woman before attacking her will spend the next four months on house arrest.
Lisa M. Fowler, born in 1963, was found guilty today, Dec. 5 of assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm. Judge Stella Frame sentenced her to a conditional sentence order in Kamloops Provincial Court, after Fowler and her defence lawyer got into an argument.
Throughout the sentencing hearing, Fowler was whispering to her lawyer Ken Sommerfeld while Frame spoke. She would whisper "bullshit" when Frame went over the circumstances of the offence.
It appeared to have frustrated Sommerfeld to the point where he stood up and exclaimed that his client would not behave.
"I'll get off the record if you don't let me work," Sommerfeld told his client.
Court heard that Fowler and a woman named Karen Peters had a rocky relationship. They were acquaintances who briefly knew each other in high school but hadn't reconnected until they realized the other now lived in Spences Bridge.
Frame read in her decision that on Jan. 1, 2014 Fowler was allegedly assaulted by Peters after calling Peters' partner a derogatory name. Peters went to court over the matter and was put on a protection order to stay away from Fowler.
But after a stay of proceedings in the matter, Fowler says she was never told the protection order was no longer in place. In a restorative justice measure, Peters was asked to pay Fowler $60 and prune some trees of hers.
On June 25, 2014, Fowler was in a friend's yard with her dog when Peters and two of her friends walked by, court heard. Frame says Peters was carrying a cooler when she saw Fowler's dog barking and acting aggressive.
Peters and her friends asked Fowler to calm the dog down. Peters returned to her friend's home and left shortly after to walk herself home. That's when Fowler started yelling racial slurs at her.
Frame says Fowler told the court during trial the word she used was "nagger," and claimed it was a command for her dog. She also said in her trial that she considered the similar-sounding slur was a proper word for "dark-skinned" people.
Peters went to confront Fowler and asked why she said that. Frame said Peters' volume and tone of her voice were aggressive but she didn't threaten Fowler.
Fowler then struck Peters over the head with a glass mug three times before the cup shattered. Peters then dragged Fowler by the hair. Fowler continued waving the broken cup until she slashed Peters' face.
Fowler alleged Peters grabbed her for no reason but Frame said her evidence was not credible. Frame says the friend who Peters had been with earlier heard the commotion and went to the area where the assault took place. He saw a lot of blood and called first responders.
Fowler has been sentenced to a 12-month conditional sentence order. The first four will be spent on house arrest, followed by a curfew for the next four. She is to have no contact with Peters, not possess any weapons and attend anger management if recommended to her.
After finishing her conditional sentence, Fowler will be put on probation. During her house arrest she'll be allowed to leave her home for four hours per day in order to run errands and attend medical appointments.
It's also mandatory under the conviction for Fowler to provide a sample of her DNA.
"Can they come to my house and do it?" Fowler asked. Frame told her that wasn't how it worked.
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