(JENNIFER STAHN / iNFOnews.ca)
June 30, 2015 - 8:00 PM
KAMLOOPS - A woman who assaulted her ex-husband’s new girlfriend in a jealous rage will have no criminal record after a Kamloops provincial judge decided to absolve her of the assault charge earlier this month.
Instead of a criminal penalty, Michelle Prevost, who pleaded guilty to the assault, faces a one-year probation period where she will be under house arrest in Williams Lake for three months. Following that, Prevost is required to comply with a healing plan as outlined by the Kamloops First Nations Court.
"It is difficult to see how granting a discharge that will preclude a criminal record serves as a deterrent to others who may act out in jealous rages. This was not a slap or a push. It was a serious assault,” judge Stella Frame said in her reasons for judgment. "That being said, the degree of the assault should not preclude a conditional discharge so long as I am satisfied that I can impose rehabilitative terms upon Ms. Prevost that will also serve as a deterrent to others in similar circumstances."
Frame called the circumstances of the case ‘quite alarming.' The attack involved punching and kicking the woman in front of two young children.
Frame noted Prevost’s career goal is to work as a sheriff in the court system and said a criminal record would prevent several years of work on the accused’s part to reach that goal.
"A criminal record will compromise all of this effort,” she said adding Prevost made several attempts to have a restorative justice meeting with the victim, but the woman was not interested.
Along with probation, Frame handed Prevost a one-year firearms ban.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Glynn Brothen at gbrothen@infonews.ca, or call 250-319-7494. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
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