Gunman in Kelowna home invasion style robbery handed prison sentence

KELOWNA – A man with a “propensity for violence” has been sentenced to three years imprisonment for a home invasion style robbery in Kelowna in November 2012.

Two men burst into a Belaire Avenue home armed with a shotgun and a pistol in a mistaken belief there was a marijuana grow operation in the house.

They shoved a 30 year Amelie Normandeau to the floor, threatening to kill her at gunpoint unless she stopped screaming for help.

While the two robbers were temporarily distracted, Normandeau escaped and hid in bushes as she watched the two men look for her and then enter a duplex just down the street.

She later identified Matthew Scott Stewart, 31, as one of the robbers but couldn’t identify the other.

Police were unable to locate the two firearms.

In handing down sentence, the judge noted the home invasion had a profound impact on Normandeau, saying: “She was a young, vulnerable woman who was alone in the residence; the drug world and its culture were alien to her. She continues to be affected by what the offender did, and her response is an inevitable consequence of a crime of this nature.”

At the start of what was to be a 10 day trial, Stewart pleaded guilty to break and enter and theft and using an imitation imitation firearm while committing the indictable offense of robbery.

After serving his prison time, Stewart will be on probation for one year.