In a plea-bargain deal between the prosecution and defence lawyers, a Kelowna judge is being asked to sentence a man to 5.5 years imprisonment for his role in a botched robbery where he inadvertently shot himself in the face.
The incident unfolded on the morning of February 17 last year at the Yaletown condominium complex on Glenmore Road.
A woman knocked on the door of one of the units, and when the resident opened it, two men burst inside in a home invasion.
One had a sawed-off, small calibre rifle. The other was armed with a knife. They were yelling “give me the money.”
Get daily National news
There was a struggle and the gun went off with one of the robbers then saying “we need to go. I shot myself in the face.” The robbery target told police it appeared one of the man’s eyes was missing.
It didn’t take long for police to round up their suspects.
Michelle Dawn Pieritsch later pleaded guilty to assault and was sentenced to time served after her arrest, 411 days.
The male with the knife, a young offender, was handed a three year jail term.
The man with the prohibited rifle, forty-nine year old Walter Daryl Spence, was arrested at the hospital. The bullet had taken out his right eye and the slug remains lodged in his brain.
At the time Spence was a heroin addict, and from evidence police later found inside the victim’s home, the robbery may have been linked to the illegal drug trade.
The judge will hand down her sentencing decision Tuesday afternoon. It’s very likely she will impose the mandatory minimum sentence agreed to by the two lawyers in their joint submission.
- ‘Crippling’: Sechelt could lose 300 temporary foreign workers, mayor says
- Details about the FIFA World Cup Fan Zone in Vancouver released
- ‘No reason to kill our parents’: Closing arguments heard in B.C. double murder trial
- Veteran paramedic testifies he couldn’t tell Myles Gray’s ethnicity due to bruising
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.