Michael Joel-Hansen
Saskatoon StarPhoenix
A 27-year-old Prince Albert woman accused of attacking a 75-year-old woman in a Saskatoon community garden last week was on probation for burning down a Prince Albert cultural centre in 2022.
Gina Pearl Beatty was not in Saskatoon provincial court on Tuesday when a defence lawyer requested a psychiatric assessment. The case was adjourned to next week, and Beatty will remain in custody until then.
She’s charged with aggravated assault and assaulting a police officer during her detention on Aug. 21.
Around 5:10 p.m. that day, police were called to an Eastview neighbourhood community garden in the 3100 block of Arlington Avenue. They said they were told that a woman had assaulted another woman with a gardening tool before running away.
The victim was taken to hospital with what police described as non-life threatening injuries.
Beatty was found in a nearby tree line. According to police, she allegedly punched a female constable in the face while being booked into custody.
According to court documents, she’s also charged with failing to comply with an undertaking and failing to “keep the peace and be of good behaviour” as required by an Aug. 9, 2023 probation order.
The three-year probation order followed an 18-month jail sentence she received after pleading guilty to arson. According to media reports on the court case, she set a fire that destroyed the Senator Allen Bird Memorial Centre in Prince Albert in April 2022.
