Brandon Sun - PRINT EDITION
A hammer-wielding robber has been jailed for one failed robbery at one business, which he followed up with a robbery at another.
Crown attorney Jim Ross said such robberies have a potential to turn violent, putting vulnerable late-night employees at risk.
“These things can go sideways rather quickly,” Ross said.
Roy Cameron Robinson, 21, was sentenced in Brandon Court of Queen’s Bench on Monday for a pair of robbery charges for the events of Aug. 23, 2010.
Describing the evening’s events, Ross said Robinson was living in the Minnedosa area at the time and drove to Brandon.
First, around 10:20 p.m., he entered a gas station with hammer in hand and his face masked by a balaclava.
He raised the hammer and told the employee to open the till.
The employee bluffed by telling Robinson that she couldn’t open the till. Robinson paused, as though pondering what to do next and then walked out of the business.
The incident was caught on video.
Police were called, and Ross said it appears Robinson laid low for about 20 minutes before he targeted Little Caesars Pizza just down the street.
He walked into that shop, where he was also caught on video, put the hammer on the table and told an employee to open the till.
The woman backed away and Robinson pressed the till’s buttons in a futile attempt to open it.
He then waved the hammer and told the employee to open the till, which the frightened woman did.
Robinson then grabbed about $345 cash and shoved it into his pockets and down his pants.
He was dropping money as three young men spotted him leaving the pizza shop.
The men followed Robinson and directed police to a yard where he was arrested.
A sweaty, out-of-breath Robinson told police that he’d come to Brandon to go jogging — an unusual explanation, Ross said, as Robinson was wearing combat boots and had a balaclava stuffed down the front of his pants.
Robinson has repeatedly stated that he doesn’t remember committing the crimes.
He has claimed that someone must have “slipped something” into his drink while he was at a city bar.
Police, however, noted that Robinson hadn’t seemed intoxicated.
Robinson said he was pleading guilty to the charges on the basis that he was the person caught on video.
Justice Robert Cummings sentenced him to a total of 18 months in jail to be followed by 18 months of probation.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition March 16, 2013
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A hammer-wielding robber has been jailed for one failed robbery at one business, which he followed up with a robbery at another.
Crown attorney Jim Ross said such robberies have a potential to turn violent, putting vulnerable late-night employees at risk.
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A hammer-wielding robber has been jailed for one failed robbery at one business, which he followed up with a robbery at another.
Crown attorney Jim Ross said such robberies have a potential to turn violent, putting vulnerable late-night employees at risk.
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