BY SCOTT HUNTER HADDOW
A ?polite robber? who robbed a gas station and a pharmacy was sentenced to 27 months in a penitentiary Thursday.
Court heard that on April 12, 2004, Christopher Halls, 32, entered a gas station on The Kingsway and asked the clerk if they had any beef jerky for sale. After spending a few minutes inside the store at the gas station, Halls told the clerk ?Oh yeah, this is a robbery too.?
Halls told the clerk he had a shotgun under his coat and demanded money. The clerk never saw a shotgun, but noticed Halls? hands in his pockets.
Halls then made off with over $100 in cash, some candy and pop, and a carton of cigarettes.
On the same day, Halls enentered a pharmacy on Regent Street and handed the owner a piece of paper.
He had written down several specific prescription drugs he wanted, and again, demanded the owner to comply after alleging had a gun in his pocket.
The owner obliged and handed over several types of pills, including about 400 morphine pills. Halls then left without incident.
The court heard, through victim statements, how Halls had been polite, albeit dangerous, while conducting the robberies.
Halls was arrested the next day without incident and admitted full responsibility for the robberies.
Halls? defence lawyer, Louis Sola, told the court his client had a rough life, and at the time he committed the crimes, was under the influence of drugs.
Sola asked the sentencing judge to show compassion in imposing a sentence. Although Sola agreed Halls? actions warranted a jail term, he argued it should be in the range of two years in jail, which warrants a penitentiary term, but less than the 30 months the Crown was seeking.
Halls is involved in a common law marriage with two young children resulting from that relationship and has made a commitment to stay out of trouble once this sentence expires, said Sola.
Sola also said Halls? mother was diagnosed with lung cancer and was about to have an operation to have one of her lungs removed.
?My client is anxious to get this behind him and serve his time as quick as possible,? said Sola. ?It?s hard time for a man of his age and with two young children. It?s not going to be a cakewalk.?
Assistant crown attorney Guy Roy said the court can?t forget the terror the gas bar and pharmacy employees must have went through believing Halls had a gun in his possession.
?A message has to be sent to the community . . . if you chose to rob a store, there are consequences.?
Justice Randall Lalande took some pity on Halls, but still said he had no choice but to impose a penitentiary term.
?Robbing is not the way to get money,? said Lalande. ?It?s a way to add to your criminal record. No one has suggested you are a hardcore criminal . . . but I have to deter others. It can only get worse, unless you give your head a shake.?
Besides the long jail sentence, Lalande ordered Halls to supply a DNA sample for a national crime data bank and prohibited him from owning any
weapons for 10 years.
