Defence argues jail not best place for woman who attacked senior in Saskatoon community garden

The defence lawyer for a woman who attacked a 75-year-old in a community garden last year says sending her to jail is more dangerous to the public than letting her continue her rehabilitation in the community.

That’s because drugs are available in Pine Grove Correctional Centre, and it’s not a good place for someone who needs to stay off drugs to stay sober and keep out of trouble, Kimbal MacMillan said. 

But the Crown said Gina Pearl Beatty should go to jail.

Prosecutor Muhammad Zubair said Beatty already had a chance to show she could improve her life while serving a community-based sentence, after she burned down the Senator Allen Bird Memorial Centre in Prince Albert in 2022 and received a sentence of time served plus three years of probation.

Beatty, 28, was on that probation order on Aug. 21, 2025, when she attacked Beverly Hill with a garden trowel as Hill was walking her dog in the community garden behind John Dolan School in Saskatoon’s Eastview neighbourhood.

Hill, now 76, needed five stitches in her arm and lost a clump of hair in the attack. The physical pain lasted for months, and the attack left her feeling less safe in her own community.

“Although I walk my dog now, things have not come back to the same as they were before,” Hill wrote in her victim impact statement. “I used to go out and do things, and I don’t do those things anymore.”

When Beatty was being processed at the police station that same day, she punched the detention officer, Const. Erinn Van De Kamp, in the face.

The attack came out of the blue, with no prior warning, and had a severe effect on Van De Kamp’s physical and mental health, she said.

“This has impacted my life in so many ways, some of which are very hard and difficult to admit, or even talk about,” Van De Kamp said in court.

Beatty used drugs to cope, lawyer says

On the day she attacked Hill and Van De Kamp, Beatty was high on drugs, despite a probation condition that included abstaining from alcohol and drugs.

Her lawyer said Beatty initially did well on probation, but spiralled after the deaths of close friends.

MacMillan said Beatty is from Deschambault Lake and a member of the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation. Growing up, she was exposed to violence in the community, and started using alcohol and drugs at a young age as a coping mechanism.

During her probation on the arson sentence, Beatty participated in addictions treatment, but relapsed.

However, Beatty has been sober since her release on bail on the new charges. She attends weekly NA meetings, sees a mental health counsellor and is on the waitlist for a psychiatrist, MacMillan said.

“An incarceral sentence would be a step in the wrong direction for her continued rehabilitation,” he said.

He cited research showing that 11 per cent of inmates in the federal penitentiary system admit injecting drugs and that 25 per cent say they were pressured to bring in drugs, and suggested there’s likely similar numbers in the provincial correctional systems.

MacMillan also cited statistics on the overrepresentation of Indigenous women in the prison system, and direction from the Supreme Court of Canada to take that into consideration.

MacMillan argued for a conditional sentence order — a sentence served in the community — of two years less a day, followed by one year of probation.

Crown argues for jail

Zubair argued that a community-based sentence is not sufficient, emphasizing the unprovoked attacks, the use of a weapon, the serious injuries and Beatty’s prior criminal record.

He argued for a custodial sentence of two years less a day, plus one year of probation.

The three-year probation order that Beatty was on for the arson in Prince Albert was designed to ensure she had a “smooth reintegration” into the community, “but unfortunately, it didn’t seem to have worked,” Zubair said.

Judge Bruce Bauer said he needed some time to consider the arguments.

He’s scheduled to give his decision on Sept. 29.