By Taylor MacPherson

‘She tried to cut my throat’: pastor describes violent attempted robbery

Oct 25, 2017 | 8:00 AM

A Prince Albert pastor says two women cut his neck with a pocket knife and slashed his truck tire Saturday night after he refused their demands for cash.

Vern Temple, pastor at the Full Gospel Outreach Centre, said he first met his attackers earlier in the evening Saturday when they approached him at a local convenience store with a “sob story” looking for a ride. Temple said he gave the women a lift to the corner of Ninth St. and Fifth Ave. E. He would normally have refused, but said he felt safe because he had other passengers with him in his truck.

Temple said he attended to some other business after dropping the pair off and did not give the women any more thought until he returned to the area a while later to do a drive-by check of an apartment he manages. A woman he knew approached his truck in a panic at the same location where he had dropped off the pair earlier in the night, Temple said, and the frightened woman asked to get into his truck, explaining that a group was trying to rob her.

The two women he had dropped off earlier then approached his truck along with a male accomplice, Temple said, and one of the women stood directly in front of his vehicle while demanding money.

“She said ‘give me your money,’ and I said ‘no,’” Temple said.

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After he refused numerous demands for cash from both women, Temple said one of the would-be robbers cut his neck with a pocket knife through the open window. She then slashed one of his truck tires, he said, and the trio simply walked away from the scene of the unsuccessful robbery.

“I guess she tried to cut my throat but it didn’t work,” the pastor said. “It left a bit of a cut there, and there was some blood.”

Temple said he dialed city police on his cell phone as soon as the women demanded cash, and the police likely heard the entire exchange. Despite his injury and the flat tire on his truck, Temple said he and his passengers followed the criminal trio through the city’s downtown until police caught up with them and arrested all three a few minutes later.

Without his intervention, Temple said the woman who jumped into his truck would almost certainly have been seriously injured.

“She would have been ganged up on by these three people and she would have been hospitalized,” he said.

Temple said he was amazed by the criminals’ boldness. The group appeared to be willing to rob anyone indiscriminately, he said, and did not even run from the scene after attacking him with a knife. Although the attack only left him with a small cut, Temple said he feels the woman was trying to cause a serious injury.

According to the Prince Albert Police Service, both of the women were arrested and charged criminally. The elder of the two, a 34-year-old Prince Albert woman who was carrying a knife at the time of her arrest, is currently facing charges of assault causing bodily harm, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, mischief, and robbery. The younger, a 15-year-old girl from Meadow Lake, is charged with breaching a youth sentence.

Ironically, Temple himself has recently been accused of contributing to downtown Prince Albert’s criminal issues.

Full Gospel Outreach Centre’s downtown apartment building, located very close to the scene of the attempted robbery, recently came under stern criticism from Mayor Greg Dionne for allegedly providing safe harbour for the neighbourhood’s gangs and drug dealers.

Dionne said he would like to see the building demolished but Temple, responding to the allegations in an Oct. 11 interview, said he is actively evicting problematic tenants and demolition is not the answer.

Taylor.macpherson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @TMacPhersonNews