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A woman who spent two months in jail rather than agree not to go to the West Vancouver public library has been ordered by a judge to show up for assessment at the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital and for appointments related to her mental health.
Saima Qamar, 53, was ordered released by Judge Susan Sangha on Thursday in North Vancouver provincial court, with credit for one month time served and urged to take part in the psychiatric and counselling help being offered.
Qamar was arrested Oct. 25 after showing up at the West Vancouver Memorial Library, less than a month after being forbidden by a judge to go there. According to Crown counsel Jason Krupa, Qamar told staff she was banned from the library, adding they should call the police. Qamar then sat quietly and waited for police to arrive, said Krupa.
Qamar was originally banned from the library after being convicted in October of throwing a hot cup of coffee on a library staffer in December 2019. The employee suffered first-degree burns.
Qamar also spent four months in jail for a random assault on a 97-year-old veteran near West Vancouver’s Seawalk in May.
Following her most recent arrest she remained in prison after refusing to agree to stay away from the library.
In court this week, Krupa said the amount of jail time Qamar has served is “excessive” for her actions, but noted, “It’s almost as if she did it to get herself arrested.”
Both Crown and the judge appeared to struggle Thursday with how best to get Qamar help as a condition of her probation.
So far, Qamar has refused to take part in psychiatric evaluations on five separate occasions while in custody.
Qamar said little in court Thursday except to tell the judge being banned from the library was “a breach of my citizen’s rights.”
Qamar’s sister, a medical doctor in the United States, came to court and pleaded with the judge to try to help her sister, who she said has been struggling with undiagnosed mental illness for many years.
“As her loving sister, I implore you to find her the help she needs,” she said, adding she has tried her best to help Qamar but has not been successful. “I’m here to help in any way I can,” she said.
The sister said Qamar is highly educated, intelligent and trained in dentistry in New York. “To see her like this, it breaks my heart.”
“I would like to see your sister get some help,” the judge agreed. “I don’t want to see her living in prison. I would like to see her get better.”
Sangha put Qamar on probation for a year, with conditions that she show up for appointments. Previously imposed probation conditions – including the condition she stay away from the library until October of this year – also remain in place.
