A man who admitted his part in a bear spray robbery in a downtown Vancouver Boutique two years ago has been sentenced to 10 months in jail.
With credit for time served, Elliot Daryl Cassels, will spend an additional 33 days behind bars for September 2022 incident.
Cassels pleaded guilty to one count of robbery in what his lawyer described as a “very sad case.”
Crown prosecutors stayed a charge of possessing a weapon for a dangerous purpose after the 30 year old entered his guilty plea.
The crime was captured on a security camera.
In the video, a woman wearing a mask can be seen entering the store and browsing, before Cassels walks in and tries to grab a phone and payment system from the front counter.
When staff tried to stop him, he sprayed them with pepper spray before fleeing with $950 worth of goods.
Cassels, who Crown said had eight separate bail hearings on this file because he was unable to attend court consistently when not in custody, has been sentenced to 18 months of probation when his jail term is up.
Court heard Cassels, who is Indigenous, was in foster care from age eight to 18 after his mother gave him up due to her drug use.
She is still on the Downtown Eastside today, while her son battles a severe drug addiction.
Cassels’ lawyer said he was high and desperate at the time of the robbery.
Defence counsel recommended his client may wish to have the Crown prove their case, and told the court this was a “meaningful guilty plea.”
“There was CCTV footage where police officers say they recognized him as Mr. Cassels but those cases are always very difficult because people can be misidentified,” defence lawyer Leo Fumano said.
“In fact Mr. Cassels had previously been misidentified in a case, and so it was certainly not a slam dunk conviction for the Crown, and so he certainly was given credit for taking responsibility despite the fact he may have been acquitted at trial.”
Judge Patricia Stark told Cassels, “There’s help out there, I hope you take it.”
She went on to note that he has a three-year-old daughter in care.
“If you don’t get a hold of your addiction, it’s just going to keep causing more and more difficulty for you and the community,” she added.
Cassels’ co-accused, 24-year-old Jolesa Ascon-Ramos, with whom he shares his child, has pleaded not guilty and has opted to go to trial.
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