Winnipeg man gets 4 years for robbing a Liquor Mart with a fake firearm

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WINNIPEG -- A judge has sentenced a Winnipeg man to four years in custody for robbing the Manitoba Liquor Mart at Portage Ave. and Banning St. using an imitation firearm.

Court heard the object witnesses thought was a black handgun, that was flashed during the robbery, was actually a bent piece of metal ripped off an old barbecue, but the Crown argued that doesn’t change the severity of the crime.

Reginald Ronald Desjarlais, 29, pleaded guilty on Oct. 31 to the offence that took place on Jan. 22.

A 39-second video clip captured on surveillance camera and played in court by Desjarlais’ lawyer Matt Gould, shows three individuals entering the store and a security guard following them. Desjarlais was identified as the third person to enter the store. When he approaches the checkout, customers and staff can be seen backing away from Desjarlais before he and the two other individuals leave the store.

Court heard six bottles valued at $81 were stolen.

The Crown was seeking a four-year sentence while Gould argued for a two-year sentence.

Crown attorney Colin Soul said the object shown in the store was presented as if it was a gun and the fact that it wasn’t, doesn’t change for the witnesses.

“The witnesses were very clear in their belief that it was a gun,” said Soul.

In his decision, Judge Raymond Wyant spoke of the concerns that have been raised about retail thefts and robberies in Winnipeg and told court the public needs to know this type of behaviour will be met with consequences.

“I recognize what we’re talking about is $81.86 worth of liquor, but that’s not the point of all this,” Wyant told court. “This is a robbery and a robbery is a theft accompanied by violence or the threat of violence and that’s what this is and it’s nothing more than that.”

It’s not Desjarlais’ first run-in with the law.

Court heard he was given a four-year sentence in 2012 for robbing a 7-Eleven with a loaded pellet gun for some candy worth 44 cents.

A pre-sentence report noted he was pulled from school in grade three and has been living on his own since he was 14 – those factors and a Gladue report were taken into account by Wyant.

“When I read Mr. Desjarlais’ pre-sentence report I was sad, frankly, counsel – sad that any individual, any child should be brought up in the environment Mr. Desjarlais was brought up in,” said Wyant. “It’s clear that there’s a direct link between Mr. Desjarlais’ involvement in the criminal justice system and his background, and the legacy of residential schools and colonization of Indigenous people in this country.”

Gould said outside court he’s aware people in the community have been calling for harsher sentences for thefts and robberies and he said this is an example of the consequence.

“That’s part of the sad part,” said Gould. “At the end of the day, as a community, we’ve decided that’s okay – that someone who has had an unspeakable background who made a choice to steal a bottle of liquor and had a piece of metal that he flashed – which was taken as a weapon – that that person gets a sentence of four years.”

RELATED IMAGES Stores will use bottle locks, alarm pedestals and lockable shelf cases for high-value targeted liquor and certain products will only be available by request. (Source: Josh Crabb/CTV News)