Hostage taker gets 10 year prison sentence

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on September 6, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge woman accused of taking a hostage at a city business and stabbing her victim multiple times has been sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Courtney Louise Shaw, 41, pleaded guilty last month to two charges of pointing a firearm, four counts of using a firearm while committing an offence, three counts of unlawful confinement, and single counts of taking a hostage and aggravated assault.
The charges stem from an incident on July 14, 2022 when a woman entered the Lethbridge Legal Guidance office downtown. After being told a lawyer she requested to speak to was unavailable, she returned from a washroom and pointed a black handgun at two employees and threatened to kill them. She then forced a woman into an office and closed the door, allowing the other employees to escape. The hostage, however, was stabbed numerous times and required surgery. Police seized a knife and an airsoft handgun at the scene.
Justice Greg Maxwell arrived at his sentencing decision Tuesday after listening to the joint submission by the Crown and Defence, their reasons for the submission, victim impact statements and the review of case law presented to him. All within a couple of hours.
He told those present in the court that he did not want them to think that because he was able to arrive at that decision as quickly as he did, that it should diminish how serious he believes the situation was.
Maxwell said he agreed with the fact that this was a horrific crime, that the injuries were extremely serious, that there were a number of elements of the offences that are about as serious a set of circumstances as the Lethbridge court of justice often deals with, but having said that he had a specific responsibility to determine whether or not the proposed sentence fit within the range of a potentially appropriate sentence.
“The court needs to take into account the gravity of the offence, and by the gravity of the offence you might think the seriousness, and that’s partly correct, but it means the potential harm to victims and the potential harm to society,” said Maxwell.
 He said that as pointed by council, the effect it had on the community and clearly the physical, emotional, and mental effect on all of the victims, that this is an extremely grave offence, but they also had to consider what is called the moral blameworthiness of the accused.
 “You heard the phrase a number of times NCR (not criminally responsible), because of mental illness. It was determined that in spite of serious mental illness challenges, she was nonetheless criminally responsible for what she did, she met the test of being criminally responsible in the Criminal Code, but that doesn’t mean that we just then simply ignore the fact that she suffers from serious mental health issues, which has a profound impact upon the moral blameworthiness of an individual,” said Maxwell.
He explained the aggravating factors, as well as pointing out the mitigating circumstances of Shaw’s lack of previous criminal record and the guilty plea.
“I think in the public’s eyes, sentences are never enough. I’m not sure what would be enough, but for a young lady with no criminal record to serve her first sentence being a 10-year sentence in a penitentiary, that’s a substantial penalty. One that’s warranted by these circumstances,” said Maxwell.
 “I recognized that a 10-year sentence would not for example be appropriate if we were dealing with just the pointing of a firearm, but we’re not dealing with just the pointing of fire arm, we’re dealing with that along with the kidnapping, along with the aggravated assault,” said Maxwell.
During court, a victim impact statement from Kathryn Linder, who was stabbed multiple times by Shaw, was read by a member victim services unit, along with victim impact statements from two of Linder’s children.
“I’m struggling to find the right words to describe the physical and mental impact of Miss Shaw’s actions that Thursday afternoon. I have wounds to my neck, throat, shoulders and breast, and my right thumb. These injuries seem to be healing well, any long-term damage cannot be assessed yet, there are a lot of almost I am processing. Apart from being very near death, I almost lost my right thumb, I almost had permanent damage to my vocal cords, my voice has been impacted, there is a deep gouge on the lens of the glasses I was wearing indicating potential damage to my eye, my jaw is numb, I don’t know if this will be permanent. The skin of my neck is tight and scarred. Emotionally I am angry about the distress, fear and suffering this incident has caused my children, my sisters, my friends and colleagues. It’s upsetting that the selfish actions of one person denied so many others access to the service our office provides,” read Linder’s statement.
Shaw was given 628 days credit against her sentence for the time she has already served. Shaw is also to provide a sample of her DNA, she is prohibited from possessing any firearms or restricted firearms for the rest of her life, and she was to forfeit all items seized at the time of her arrest.
“Miss Shaw, I wish you luck. And to (the victims) my heart goes out to you. (Defence lawyer Marcus) Mueller is right, Legal Guidance provides a valuable service, one that way too many people need, and I too was grateful to hear after having read some uncertainty about whether they would be up and going again, that you were open and ready for business, and the courage that you all showed to go back. You have this court’s appreciation for your courage and for your service, and I appreciate you being here today,” said Maxwell.
-with files from Delon Shurtz.

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