Attempted theft and use pepper spray leads to charges for local pair

A dispute in the city’s west end involving pepper spray, and a subsequent attempted theft led to a combined nine charges for a Kingston man and woman.

The incidents occurred on Thursday, Aug. 15, 2019 when, at approximately 6 p.m. the accused man got into a dispute with another male in the parking lot of a west-end business. During the argument, witnesses saw the man pull out a can of pepper spray and attempt to spray it at the other male. When the pepper spray didn’t work, the other male left the scene on a bicycle, and the accused man handed off the pepper spray to the accused woman, who was with him at the time. The two then entered a nearby store, and witnesses called police.

Responding officers located both parties inside the store, and both were arrested. A subsequent search found the can of pepper spray in the accused woman’s bag, and police discovered several items from the store concealed in the bag, as well. The items still had store tags on them, and the attempts had been made to disable security tags.

The 39-year-old local man was charged with possession of a weapon dangerous to public peace, possession of a prohibited weapon without a licence, possession of stolen property under $5,000, and breach of probation.

The 45-year-old local woman was charged with possession of a weapon dangerous to public peace, possession of a prohibited weapon without a licence, theft under $5,000, and two counts of breach of undertaking.