An Ontario man was sentenced to spend four years in jail after pleading guilty to robbing a Canmore pharmacy at knifepoint.
Trevor Savoie was sentenced earlier this month by Judge Les Grieve in Canmore Provincial Court.
Grieve said other than an early guilty plea Savoie would be looking at a sentence of higher than four years for the offence.
“The starting point for an unsophisticated armed robbery without harm to the victim is three years,” said the judge. “The reason for that is armed robbery or robbery with violence requires deterrent sentences from judges.”
Crown prosecutor Cary Rodin asked for three to four years jail time because the accused had a weapon.
“Not only having a knife and holding a knife but the threat to use it,” Rodin said.
Defence counsel Joan Blumer asked for 30 months because of an early guilty plea and the fact Savoie was dealing with significant addiction issues.
Blumer said at the time of the robbery her client was in Canmore to visit his mother and on a methadone program.
However upon arrival his mother was not in town and his methadone ran out, sending him into withdrawal.
“He was on methadone and had difficulty in Canmore having it administered,” she said. “He ended up on the street in the throws of withdrawal.”
Blumer said Savoie wanted to get caught by police because in jail he would be able to get back on methadone and into addiction treatment.
“Essentially this was a set up for him to be arrested because he was at wits end about what to do and suffering methadone withdrawal,” she said, adding he had no intention of harming anyone. “He feels with what has happened his addiction is out of control.”
Rodin told the court Savoie entered the Rexall Pharmacy on June 13 this year and told staff he had a prescription for oxycodone.
He provided his name and phone number but when he was told there was no prescription in his name he pushed past the assistant pharmacist and took out a knife.
Rodin said Savoie held the knife in a low position and pointed it at the pharmacist, who along with other staff provided a victim impact statement.
“He threatened to ‘poke holes’ in the pharmacist if he didn’t get oxycodone,” he said. “This is an offence of violence and clearly from the victim impact statements it had a profound affect.”
The Crown said the accused took just one bottle of the drug and fled. As he provided his name and phone number RCMP were able to locate and arrest him a short time later in Banff.
Aggravating to the case, said Rodin, is Savoie was in the early stages of a three-year probation order at the time of the offence and had a lengthy criminal record.
