Woman gets year in jail for hammer assault

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on September 2, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A woman who bludgeoned her cousin in the head with a hammer has been sentenced to nearly a year in jail.
Lauren Elaina Good Dagger 38, was sentenced Thursday in Lethbridge court of justice to 10 months in jail, after she pleaded guilty to charges of assault with a weapon, arson, break and enter and breach of probation.
On June 27 of this year Good Dagger and her cousin were using drugs at an outreach facility in the city and Good Dagger had to be given Naloxone to reverse an overdose. Shortly afterward she and her cousin got into an argument about drugs and during the altercation Good Dagger found a hammer and struck her cousin on the head several times.
“You could see…on the scalp the blood that was still coming out of the wound and trickling down the body onto the ground,” said Crown Prosecutor Clayton Giles. “In fact, there’s blood spattered all about the concrete area she was seated at.”
Giles said the victim, who was treated for her injuries, was “profoundly unhelpful” to police, and Good Dagger was arrested after police found her a little later a short distance away.
Although Good Dagger admitted she struck her cousin on the head, court was told she claims she used a metal pipe, not a hammer.
Less than two weeks later Good Dagger was in an apartment complex on the northside, and while taking drugs inside a friend’s apartment, she started a fire in a plastic garbage can. When she realized what she did she ran off.
Good Dagger was charged with shop breaking following an incident on June 8 involving several other people who had broken into a residential garage on 12 Street and 5 Avenue North. Police were notified by a “concerned citizen” that several people were breaking into the garage, one of whom was Good Dagger.
Giles said many of the individuals walked off with items from inside the garage, including chairs and lawnmowers.
“It looked like somebody had gotten the garage door open and everybody just looked at it as an opportunity to go do some shopping,” Giles said. “She was one of the shoppers, although she didn’t take any of the items.”
Lethbridge lawyer Darcy Shurtz said Good Dagger is sorry for her conduct, particularly for the attack on her cousin.
“Obviously she is struggling with drugs and was not in the right frame of mind,” Shurtz said. “That’s not an excuse and she recognizes that, and is extremely remorseful for her actions.”
Shurtz told court Good Dagger began using drugs when she was only 13 years old, and in the last few years her drug of choice has been fentanyl.
“Fentanyl has caused her to be on the streets for the last three years. She has gone back home a little bit for little stints, but it’s really that fentanyl that’s kind of taken her off the deep end.”
“I’m very sorry for all the things I’ve done, and it really is because I’m a drug user I’ve done all these things,” Good Dagger said.
Justice Erin Olsen acknowledged Good Dagger’s “troubling” background, and gave her credit for taking responsibility for her actions and pleading guilty, but said she was fortunate her actions didn’t have tragic consequences.
“This is risky behaviour and it’s lucky your cousin was not hurt worse and it’s lucky that fire didn’t get worse.”
Although sentenced to 10 months in jail, Good Dagger was given credit for nearly three months spent in remand custody, leaving slightly more than seven months to serve. She must provide a sample of her DNA for the National DNA Data Bank, and she is prohibited from possessing certain weapons for 10 years, and others for life.

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