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Sentence is 150 days jail for Langley bus assault

A Surrey woman who got into a physical dispute with a mother on a Langley bus earlier this year has been sentenced to time served and probation.

Leah MacKay, 43, pleaded guilty in B.C. Provincial Court in Surrey on Wednesday to assault, assault with a weapon, and uttering threats. A second charge of assault with a weapon was stayed.

The incident that gave rise to the charges took place on May 20.

MacKay boarded a bus in Langley at about 10:20 a.m., and argued with the driver because she wouldn’t pay the fare. She used profane language, prompting a number of passengers to tell her to stop swearing in front of children.

MacKay then threatened to kill a woman and her three children and threw a drink at the woman’s youngest child, a boy less than a year old.

A fist fight broke out between Mac-Kay and the mother. Another passenger shot a video of the fight and posted it online.

The women were separated and MacKay was asked to leave the bus. The mother left the bus separately.

As the mother walked toward Willowbrook Shopping Centre with her kids, MacKay pulled out a knife and chased after them, knocking over the woman’s four-year-old girl and kicking the two-year-old in the back. MacKay, who had dealings with police in the past, was later arrested at her home. The mother was scraped up in the scrap, but her children were not seriously injured. After entering pleas on Wednesday, MacKay was credited with 150 days of jail time and given a further two years of probation, according to online court records.

- Jennifer Saltman is a reporter for the Vancouver Province

For more from the Province, click HERE.