Judge reserves sentencing decision

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This article was published 14/09/2023 (1138 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Attempting to rob a local Shoppers Drug Mart last year with a handgun was the worst mistake of his life, the man who pleaded guilty to the crime told a Brandon courtroom on Wednesday.

“This was the worst mistake I’ve ever made, and I think about it every day,” Salvatore Salvaggio said while he read a multiple-page apology to the court. He asked the court to allow him to serve his sentence in the community on house arrest where he could access resources to help him build a better life.

Salvaggio’s statement was part of a sentencing hearing for the 34-year-old, who previously pleaded guilty to robbing a Shoppers Drug Mart with a firearm.

In the evening of May 9, 2022, Salvaggio went to the Victoria Avenue East Shoppers Drug Mart and demanded hydromorphone pills from employees while he was armed with his own handgun.

Due to an error with the safe that the pharmacy keeps the hydromorphone pills in, Salvaggio ended up leaving the business empty-handed and without harming staff.

Brandon police found Salvaggio hiding in the bushes nearby a short time later, and a police dog was used to find the handgun.

The Crown and defence were far apart on their recommended sentence for Salvaggio. The Crown asked for five years in prison, while defence suggested three options — either a provincial jail sentence of two years, time served or house arrest.

During sentencing submissions, Crown attorney Grant Hughes noted some features of Salvaggio’s offence that made it more serious, including the fact that the gun was loaded when Salvaggio attempted to rob the pharmacy.

While he was awaiting sentencing, Salvaggio was released on bail to Morberg House, a transitional residence facility in Winnipeg. During his time there, Hughes said that Salvaggio was alleged to have broken the rules at the facility numerous times, including taking suboxone that had been prescribed to another resident and helping another resident pass a drug test by giving him a sample of clean urine.

Hughes said that the facility asked him to leave and ultimately, Salvaggio made his way back to Brandon to turn himself in, but was found by police before then and arrested for breaching his release order.

Salvaggio’s defence lawyer, Brett Gladstone, focused his submissions on giving context to his client’s offending. He said that any sentence Salvaggio receives should reflect the fact that he has no prior criminal record. Gladstone also said that his client made an “honest effort” at Morberg House during the seven months he was there, including completing a specific program aimed at addressing complex trauma.

The defence lawyer told the court that Salvaggio suffers from multiple sclerosis, which causes him to experience pain. He did have a prescription for hydromorphone pills, Gladstone said, but once Salvaggio became addicted to the powerful opioid, the prescription dose wasn’t enough.

The day that Salvaggio walked into the Shoppers Drug Mart, he was worried about the devastating withdrawal symptoms if he didn’t get access to more of the drug, the defence lawyer said.

“This wasn’t to get money, this wasn’t for crime at others’ expenses,” Gladstone said. “This was to deal with the concrete problem presented to him at that moment in time, the need for this one specific thing.”

Gladstone pointed to Salvaggio’s family members, including his father who had flown in from British Columbia to come to the hearing, as evidence of support for his client.

The defence lawyer said that the time Salvaggio has already spent in jail — about nine months — has already accomplished the deterrent component of a sentence and that his client shouldn’t be handed a prison sentence to send a message to others about the seriousness of a robbery.

“I ask you to consider the who you would be making an example of Mr. Salvaggio to — is it to other addicts who are acting desperately to find a way to deal with their addiction, but not otherwise included to harm others at their lowest low?” Gladstone asked.

When Salvaggio spoke to the court, he apologized to the employees of the Shoppers Drug Mart as well as his family. He spoke about participating in the Winding River Therapeutic Community substance abuse program while he has been incarcerated at the Headingley Correctional Centre. He said that he has been accepted to the Bruce Oake Recovery Centre.

Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta said that she didn’t want to rush to a decision, especially since the Crown and defence differed significantly in their sentence recommendations. Ultimately, she decided to reserve her decision.

Salvaggio’s matter will next appear in court on Sept. 28 to determine a date for when the judge will give her decision.

» gmortfield@brandonsun.com

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