A Kamloops prostitute accused of randomly attacking a man Monday and stabbing him three times with a pair of scissors has been denied bail in Kamloops provincial court.

Sandra Lee Ritchot, 40, appeared in court Tuesday, facing a string of charges including robbery, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon and uttering threats relating to the attack, in addition to probation violations stemming from a prostitution conviction last summer.

Crown prosecutor Chris Balison said the Monday attack began just before 11 a.m. as a man parked the vehicle he was driving outside the Northills Shopping Centre medical clinic.

“Once he parked his van, he observed Ms. Ritchot running towards the vehicle,” he said.

The woman is alleged to have jumped into the passenger side of the van, demanding to know the driver’s name.

“He indicated to police he was scared and just replied that his name was ‘Dave,’” Balison said, adding that the attacker then produced a pair of scissors and demanded $50 from the driver.

Balison said the driver told the woman he had no cash, at which time she lessened her demand.

“She told him she was hungry and demanded he give her $20, telling him, quote, ‘I will kill you,’” Ballison said.

When the man still couldn’t come up with any money, Balison said the woman stabbed him three times in the forearm with the scissors and told him to drive to a bank.

Court heard the man offered to drive to the Royal Bank on Tranquille Road, but the attacker felt its location was too close to the North Shore RCMP office.

She demanded he instead go to General Grant’s on Fortune Drive.

Balison said the man began driving toward the police station anyway, ignoring his attacker’s orders and angering the woman.

“She started stabbing the dash,” he said.

“She then moved back in her seat, kicking [the driver].”

Balison said the driver then cut through the Petro-Canada gas station parking lot to Fortune Drive, attempting to reach the RCMP office, at which time the attacker began to kick the van’s steering wheel in an attempt to change its course.

Eventually, the man pulled up outside of Strauss Herb Company on Fortune Drive, next to the police station.

When he went in to talk to officers, the woman fled.

“[The driver] was observed [by police] to have three puncture marks on his forearm and scratches on his head near the temple area,” Balison said, adding that the man was able to provide a description of his assailant to police.

As forensic investigators began collecting evidence from the van, including a pair of scissors, police patrolling the North Shore were on the lookout for their suspect.

Balison said Ritchot was picked up by officers on foot patrol along Sidney Avenue.

“There was blood on her person, on her right hand knuckles and her right forearm,” he said.

She was arrested without incident.

Court heard Ritchot, one of 17 women arrested during the RCMP’s red zone undercover operation last summer, has a history of failing to comply with court-ordered conditions.

“Ms. Ritchot, by her criminal record, clearly cannot abide by any conditions your honour places her on,” Balison told Judge Dev Dley.

“The protection of the public and preventing Ms. Ritchot from committing further offences is grounds for her detention.”

In deciding to revoke Ritchot’s bail, Dley said she poses a threat to the public.

“It’s my view that detention is necessary to ensure the protection and safety of the public,” he said.

Ritchot is scheduled to return to court on July 28.