Hearing for woman accused in store evacuation

A Halifax woman who allegedly sparked an evacuation last week at the Sydney outlet of Home Depot is to appear today in provincial court for a bail hearing.

Karin Tara Sorenson, 47, of Gottingen Street made a brief court appearance last Friday after she was found wondering in and out of traffic on Highway 105 in Groves Point.

After leaving the Sydney Justice Centre, having been released on conditions, it is alleged that Sorenson made her way to the Home Depot where she armed herself with a knife and crawled into a shelving unit at the store prompting store officials to evacuate everyone from the building.

Sorenson is now charged with two counts of breaching courts orders — failing to keep the peace and failing to return to Halifax — and single counts of causing a disturbance by causing an evacuation and carrying a weapon dangerous to public peace, a knife.

She made a brief court appearance Monday and was ordered remanded pending the outcome of a bail hearing today.

Last December, Sorenson signed a peace bond in Halifax provincial court after she was found walking in and out of traffic in the provincial capital.

The bond, to be in place for 12 months, came with only two conditions. Sorenson agreed to keep the peace and be of good behaviour along with promising not be on a roadway so as to block traffic or constitute a hazard.

Last Thursday, Cape Breton Regional Police say Sorenson was found standing in the middle of traffic after police received several 911 calls reporting a woman on Highway 105.

She was arrested and held in custody overnight and appeared last Friday in a Sydney provincial court charged with two counts of breaching her bond.

Sorenson was again released on conditions that she keep the peace and be of good behaviour, she attend court when required, reside at a Gottingen Street address and she not be in a roadway so as to be a hazard to traffic.

Sorensen was ordered back in a Sydney court May 28 to enter pleas.