Altercation breaks out in courtroom

Written by Pamela Roth

Tuesday, January 06 2009, 10:29 PM

A former Blood Reserve woman who admitted to burning down a house just days before she was to be evicted, was allegedly assaulted leaving a provincial court room Tuesday. Thelma Joyce Brothen appeared in Lethbridge provincial court on Tuesday only to have her lawyer inform the judge she has not yet undergone her pre-sentence report or psychological assessment — documents that were ordered at her last court appearance prior to sentencing. The Crown expressed concern by the efforts and difficulty Brothen has encountered in completing the assessment, but agreed to a lengthy adjournment to allow the documents to be completed. Upon leaving the courtroom on Tuesday, Brothen had barely reached the door when she was allegedly attacked and assaulted by a woman who had been sitting in the gallery. Jayne Lee Scout has been charged with one count of assault and will appear in court Feb. 18. Brothen pled guilty to arson in early October following a blaze in June 2006 on the reserve that levelled her late husband Joe Scout’s home, in which she had been ordered to move out of by the end of the month. The 59-year-old was to appear in court on the day of the blaze, but went missing. She was discovered two days later, unconscious and suffering from severe burns, in brush several hundred metres from the burnt-out rubble of the home. Brothen, who now lives in Saskatchewan, was acquitted in November 2007 of criminal negligence causing bodily harm and failing to provide the necessities of life in connection with a bathtub scalding Scout suffered in May of 2005 in the home the couple shared near Fish Creek. Scout, who suffered from a list of medical woes including dementia and colon cancer, died four weeks later. Brothen will be back in court Feb. 3 for sentencing.