Cape Breton woman pleads not guilty to attempting to kill her mother, sister with vehicle

A Cape Breton woman has pleaded not guilty to attempting to kill her mother and sister by running them down with her vehicle in a grocery store parking lot.

Colleen Blanche Burton, 50, of Sydney Mines, was arrested on June 24 after Cape Breton Regional Police were called to a vehicle-pedestrian accident at the Atlantic Superstore parking lot on Kings Street in North Sydney.

An 84-year old woman was transported by ambulance to the Cape Breton Regional Hospital with head injuries while a 52-year-old woman suffered facial injuries.

Burton was reportedly involved in a verbal altercation with the two victims inside the Atlantic Superstore before she allegedly left the store and waited in a vehicle then struck them as they were walking across the parking lot.

During a recent appearance in Sydney provincial court, she pleaded not guilty to two counts of attempted murder, two counts aggravated assault, and one count of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing bodily harm.

Burton, who was declared fit to stand trial following a court-ordered medical and psychological evaluation at the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth, remains in custody after previously being denied bail.

She is now scheduled to stand trial March 3-5, 2027, in Sydney, with a pretrial conference set for Jan. 15, 2027.