By battlefordsNOW

Woman involved in April Delmas area shooting sentenced

Nov 9, 2018 | 5:19 PM

Verena Petruka has been sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison, minus time served, after pleading guilty to discharging a firearm at an officer near Delmas and to being an accessory to a robbery for a separate incident in Regina this spring.

The 30-year-old from Melville was sentenced Friday in North Battleford provincial court.

Petruka was the passenger in a taxi being pursued by police on April 14 on Highway 16 near Delmas, as it matched the description of a taxi that was stolen in a robbery in Regina the day prior.

The co-accused in the case, Tristan Pinder — who is facing separate charges in these matters — is said to have been driving the vehicle.

Petruka was said to have fired a shot at the officer’s vehicle from the taxi van, although she missed the cruiser. She then allegedly lost control of the rifle and it fell into the ditch. She later handled the shotgun the co-accused allegedly used and threw it out the window.

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After the vehicle turned onto a side road near Delmas, it became stuck in the snow in a ditch. The two were eventually arrested with the aid of a police dog.

At a sentencing hearing on Oct. 30, amidst tears, Petruka said she was sorry to victims’ families. 

“I can’t take it back but I ask for their forgiveness,” she said, adding she had  “a mental break” at the time.

— With files from Angela Brown

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr