Colin Harrison has been sentenced to one year in jail and two years probation for his assault of Kimberley small business owner Michelle Cubin in September 2024.
After a hearing on May 30, 2025, Judge Tyleen Underwood told the court she would take some time to weigh the facts before she set the sentencing date for Monday, June 30.
The Crown requested nine to 12 months in jail followed by two years in probation with conditions, while Harrison's defence asked for a 12 to 18-month conditional sentence, to be served in the community, and agreed to the conditions of the two-year probation.
"I’m happy," Cubin said following the sentencing. "I was worried it was going to be community time. 12 months is a long time, it was a long time sitting there hearing all the details and stuff, so 12 months I think is more than the Crown even asked for, so I feel a lot better."
Family and friends filled the Cranbrook Courthouse on Monday, June 30, in support of Cubin, as they did at the sentencing hearing at the end of May.
Judge Underwood began by reviewing details first shared at the sentencing hearing.
On Sept. 28, 2024, Harrison drove his truck up to Cubin's business The Healing Hollow, located in Kimberley's downtown area known as the Platzl, and demanded she pay his wife, who had been fired from the business a week prior to the attack.
The court heard that Cubin lay on the ground screaming while Harrison continued kicking her in the head, before he climbed on top of her and continued to hit her, only stopping when a crowd gathered and an employee tried to intervene. Harrison drove away and was arrested later that morning, pleading guilty to assault.
Judge Underwood discussed the details of the pre-sentence report, including Harrison's numerous medical issues from his past and getting COVID-19, which caused old symptoms to return and the medications he takes for seizures, pain management and other issues.
He had left his job at the airport in 2022 due to these health issues and had not returned to work since.
Judge Underwood also discussed the aggravating circumstances, including that Harrison, 50, is not a youthful offender. While he only has one prior conviction, it is related — a 2019 assault with a weapon on his brother. For this he received a 12-month conditional sentence and then, only three years after the expiration of his probation order, he assaulted Cubin.
Underwood highlighted the seriousness of the offence, saying it was not an impulsive act, but rather an unprovoked, vigilante style attack done out of vengeance for the injustice he felt was done to his wife. Underwood said business owners are entitled to fire employees and there are legal pursuits one can undertake if they believe the firing was unjustified.
She said the brazen manner of the attack was not deterred by the presence of another employee and that Harrison knew he would be recognized, but carried out the vicious attack in broad daylight anyways, hitting Cubin in her head while witnesses gathered, showing a lack of restraint.
"Honestly, initially when Michelle texted me to tell me that she had been attacked, I couldn’t even process the information, it didn’t actually seem real," said Zoe Ferguson, another Platzl business owner and friend of Cubin's.
Underwood spoke about Cubin's victim impact statement — which was read at the previous hearing by a community based victim services coordinator from Summit Community Services — that described the numerous impacts on her life, her kids, her work and her health, both physical and mental.
Cubin sought therapy for the serious impacts to her mental health, including EMDR therapy, but these were costly preventing her from continuing. The impact on the community was also considered an aggravating factor, as demonstrated by the attendance at both court hearings. Underwood said Harrison hurt Kimberley's reputation.
While Harrison apologized for his actions at the previous hearing and had made some efforts to rehabilitate, including a 16-hour anger management course, Underwood said his attitude following the initial arrest and in the pre-sentencing report diminished his remorse. She said Harrison downplayed the severity of his attack.
"It’s disturbing," Ferguson said. "It was premeditated, he backed his car in so that he had a quick getaway and he planned the whole thing. It was evil.
"When it happened I was in disbelief and I went to the hospital when Michelle was there. I saw the ripped jeans, I saw the bruises, I saw the trauma that happened that day. And it was real and it’s emotional to see it actually come together today."
The court heard Harrison tried to justify his actions, placing blame on the victim. Underwood said that while there was some evidence Harrison had insight to his behaviour and he had some willingness to rehabilitate, he has failed to take any significant steps on his own initiative since 2024.
She mentioned Harrison saying he couldn't afford to continue the anger-management sessions, but said the court didn't feel like he made rehabilitation a priority, adding the victim had to discontinue her therapy because she could no longer afford it.
Underwood stressed the importance of upholding the principles of denunciation and deterrence and said that because Harrison's previous conditional sentence for assault did not serve as a deterrence from him committing another assault, a conditional sentence this time would not be appropriate.
Harrison received 12 months in prison with 24 months of probation to follow, with conditions including staying 250 metres away from any place Cubin lives, works, goes to school or worships and if he sees her he is to leave her presence without any words or gestures.
"I think I’ll be okay, it’s all going to be okay I think," Cubin said. "I felt bad a bit for them and their family and stuff, but I don’t know, he needs help and I just hope that when he gets out in a year he’s learned his lesson.
"And who knows where I’ll be in a year, I have no idea, but I do feel good, which is weird because it’s only 12 months for basically, almost, possibly taking my life — it’s interesting what we end up feeling good about with the law."
She added she's happy this has happened during the busiest time of the year for her business, and she hopes she can move forward and not have to worry about anything for at east the next 12 months.
"I think he got a pretty good sentence, considering what I read and heard about this kind of sentencing," Cubin said. "And hopefully a year in jail, maybe he does turn his life around, maybe something good will come of all this, maybe. Hopefully."
Krista Moody, another local business owner and friend of Cubin's, remarked on the number of friends and family who attended the trials, saying they've all tried to support her as best they can, but it's challenging knowing what to do, given the unique and terrible thing that happened to her.
"It’ll be nice for her just to be able to live her life for at least a year and know that she doesn’t have to watch out for him everywhere she goes," Moody said. "She’s safe now. I feel like we all came together and it came out as it should today.
"She can go to work now without being scared, she can go home without being scared, she can go to the grocery store without being scared. She’s had to watch for him every second of every day, not knowing what he’s going to do next, if he’s going to come back and do more. Now she can just live her life as she did before, I mean she’s not going to forget what happened, but it feels good to see it play out like this."
