Rooster robber pleads guilty
Defence challenges mandatory minimum for convenience store robber who was offered snack during incident
Kirsten Fenn
Northern News Services
Monday, May 15, 2017
HAY RIVER
A 21-year-old man who was offered a corndog during an armed robbery at The Rooster convenience store in Hay River last November has pleaded guilty to the offence.
Cameron Bernarde pleaded guilty to robbery with a firearm on May 1 in NWT Supreme Court in Yellowknife.
RCMP originally charged the man with robbery with a firearm, pointing a firearm, possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose, possession of a weapon while prohibited, possession of a disguise with intent to commit an indictable offence, and possession of a weapon without a licence, according to a police news release on Nov. 9.
Defence lawyer Peter Harte said he expects the rest of the charges to be stayed.
After the event, convenience store clerk William Delorme told News/North the man appeared unprepared to carry out the robbery. So to break the ice with the nervous perpetrator, he offered him a snack.
The robber also came back to the store - unmasked - following the incident to share a smoke with the clerk, News/North was told.
Harte is planning to challenge the minimum sentence for his client, as he believes Bernarde has fetal alcohol spectrum disorder.
The lawyer said that, if disability is connected to the offence, the man should not face a mandatory minimum sentence.
Harte suggested it would be cruel and unusual punishment for someone who is not operating at the same capacity as other people to be sentenced the same way.
"Records that I've got suggest he's been diagnosed," Harte said, although he is still trying to track down medical files.
Bernarde is expected to appear again in NWT Supreme Court in Yellowknife on June 5.
