Photo: Castanet file photo

Guilty of assault while out on bail.

A South Okanagan woman has pleaded guilty to assaulting a stranger while already on bail facing a murder charge.

In Penticton court Wednesday, the accused person — who will be referred to as A.P. in this article due to a publication ban protecting her identity — entered her guilty plea to punching a man in the head near the Penticton Peach in November 2024, following what the judge characterized as a "road rage" incident.

Court heard that on the night in question, the victim was walking near the Penticton Lakeside resort when he saw a white truck almost strike a man in the parking lot. An argument began between those involved.

A.P. was the driver. The victim walked up and said that, in his opinion as a witness, he believed A.P. was in the wrong.

The victim then kept walking west along the lakeshore. A.P. followed him in her vehicle, and pulled up near the Penticton Peach.

A verbal altercation followed, then A.P. got out of her vehicle and punched the victim in the head. The victim called police.

The victim had managed to take a photo of A.P., and it was later discovered that there was CCTV footage of the incident.

A.P. was, and remains, on strict bail conditions because she is already facing a second-degree murder charge in the killing of Penticton man Taig Savage.

Savage, 22, was found dead on the grounds of Penticton Secondary School early in the morning of Sept. 5, 2021. It is believed he was beaten to death in a swarming attack.

Savage's alleged killers include Isaac Hayse Jack, and three others who were minors at the time of the alleged crime. The minors' identities are protected by the publication ban, and details of their bail conditions are similarly protected.

In court Wednesday, lawyers argued that a publication ban regarding A.P.'s identity should apply in this new case, despite the fact that she is now an adult.

The judge agreed, since the lawyers shared their intent to bring up the Savage case.

Court heard first from Crown lawyer Kurt Froehlich, who said the November 2024 assault deserves some jail time.

"It is very, very rare to see a violent offender commit a violent offence while on bail for murder," he said, suggesting three to six months behind bars.

"Moral culpability, in my respectful submission, is extremely high."

A.P.'s defence lawyer Cory Armour argued for a sentence served in the community.

He said A.P. has, tried “very, very, very hard” to be compliant with her bail order, characterizing the assault as a misstep born of recent trauma in A.P.'s family, and touting her early guilty plea as evidence of remorse.

"I have a four-year-old daughter, I tell her all the time, we don't react with our fists. That's what we don't do. But sometimes, when that does happen, you have to be held accountable. [For A.P.] to be held accountable, I would respectfully submit that does not mean she needs to be thrown in a jail cell or locked away from society," Armour said.

Judge Lynett Jung said she needed more time to ponder before passing a sentence.

A.P. will be back in court at a later date to hear that sentence.