Parole documents outline risk of violence from woman charged in Edmonton security guard's death

Federal parole documents shed light on ongoing concerns about the risks posed by a woman charged in the killing of a young Edmonton security guard.

Evan Rain and Judith Saulteaux, both 30, were each charged with first-degree murder in the death of 20-year-old Harshandeep Singh on Dec. 6.

Neither appear to have been residents of the central Edmonton apartment building where Singh was shot. In court documents, Rain has no listed address, while Saulteaux's home is listed as a building in a different neighbourhood.

Both accused have a lengthy history with the justice system, including federal prison terms.

Criminal charges against Rain date back to 2012, while Saulteaux's record begins in 2013, with court documents showing 12 months of probation for assault.

She was first sent to prison in January 2016 with a two-year sentence for a violent robbery.

At the time, she was also facing aggravated assault charges for stabbing two people in 2015. The victims were seriously injured, according to Parole Board of Canada documents — one victim suffered a collapsed lung and a punctured bowel, and the other had to have both his legs amputated below the knee after developing an infection from his wounds.

The robbery took place in 2014, with parole documents detailing how Saulteaux approached two women, who were 58 and 69 at the time, and asked for money and car keys. She grabbed one of the victims, but when that woman managed to get free, Saulteaux put the other in a headlock and stole her phone.

Saulteaux said she was "living in desperation on the street," and she remembered very little of what happened because she was extremely intoxicated.

Parole documents say the judge in the case set the two-year sentence — the minimum length for a federal prison term — in part so Saulteaux would have access to federal corrections programming to address her "serious" alcohol addiction.

The records describe Saulteaux's "extensive and very traumatic Indigenous social history," with one parole board decision describing her upbringing as "horrendous."

Saulteaux reported she was exposed to violence and substance abuse as a child, and ended up largely disconnected from her culture.

"As an extension of these experiences, you gravitated to alcohol, drugs, an abusive partner, self-harm, street life and crime," one parole decision reads.

"Your education was interrupted and you have little employment history. Despite these experiences being largely beyond your control, they set the stage for criminal behaviour."