By Ryan Pilon

Teenage girl sentenced to jail for P.A. robbery

Apr 6, 2011 | 4:03 PM

A teenage girl has been sentenced to one year in jail, followed by six months of community supervision, for robbing the Husky Gas & Food Store on Second Avenue West at knife point.

The incident occurred on Mar. 7.

The teenager robbed the store of cash and cigarettes after brandishing a steak knife. There were allegedly two other girls involved in the robbery. The girls were 15, 16, and 17 years of age.

The teenager sentenced in provincial court was the one who had the knife, and Crown prosecutor John Morral said in court she told the worker in the convenience store, “I’d love to stab you right now.” However, she didn’t and all three left.

The Prince Albert Police Service tracked the culprits with the help of their canine unit and discovered them at the rear of a second West Hill business. Police believed they were preparing to commit their second robbery.

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The teenagers fled from police, but police caught them and apprehended them. Police searched the teenagers and found items they believed were taken from the robbery, as well as the steak knife.

Crown prosecutor John Morral said the sentence handed down is the toughest they can give for a youth.

“Certainly we felt that the sentence was appropriate,” Morral said.

“Obviously, you know, it was very traumatic for the young victim and people in convenience stores are notably in vulnerable positions.”

The judge told the youth in court that he had once given a young woman in the same predicament a sentence of open custody, who then went on to commit murder, so he wouldn’t make that mistake again.

Crown prosecutor John Morral said in court he didn’t believe an open custody sentence for the teenage girl would be appropriate.

“She had run from every other placement, so there was simply no hope of her actually staying in open custody, because it’s fairly easy to escape from there if you’re of the mind to do something like that,” said Morral, outside of court.

The girl was also sentenced concurrently for other crimes.

“She had other offences, including a dine-and-dash at WK, being involved in stealing someone’s vehicle, and not doing some community service work, but of course, the robbery was the most serious of the offences,” Morral said.

The other two teenage girls allegedly involved in the robbery will appear in court at a later time.

rpilon@panow.com