A Prince George man was sentenced to eight years Friday for his role in a home invasion that allegedly involved bear spraying a quadriplegic man and his two caregivers.
There was no evidence Robert John Hawkins, 55, wielded the bear spray and was "neither the primary planner nor the lead participant," Provincial Court Judge Michael Brecknell found in passing sentence.
The term was issued for a Dec. 10, 2012 incident in which Hawkins and two other men were caught on video surveillance entering the Chief Lake area home where a 51-year-old quadriplegic man lives. He is ordinarily confined to his bed and relies completely on his caregivers, the court heard earlier in the day during Hawkins' disposition hearing.
One of the two other alleged culprits had been hired to build a shed on the man's property and learned he kept all his medication, debit cards and credit cards, cheque book and cash in a fanny pack. And because he relies on his caregivers to make his purchases, the personal identification numbers for the cards were also pinned inside the pack.
A few days later, at about 10 p.m. Hawkins and two others showed up at the home and after failing to kick down the back door, broke through the front one with a two-by-four, according to the video recording presented at the hearing.
Hawkins, who was the last to enter, used a bandana to mask his face. One of the others wore a plastic mask while the third was unmasked and wearing a fedora. Hawkins maintained he stood just inside the door as the robbery was carried out.
According to the occupants' statements to police, all three were bear sprayed, including the quadriplegic who was laying in bed and was unable to wipe the spray out of his nose and eyes because of his condition. The glasses he was wearing afforded some protection but the spray still caused respiratory problems because he also suffers from asthma and was living in the rural area because the air is cleaner.
The recording from the camera showed the three leaving less than a minute after breaking into the home and Hawkins the last to leave. Further video evidence show the three entering a Hart area convenience store and twice withdrawing $200 from an automatic teller machine.
Two-and-a-half weeks before, Hawkins had just finished a six month sentence in jail and although he was wearing a bandana, jail guards were still able to identify him from his distinctive hair.
In his statement to police, Hawkins initially denied involvement but when told of the video evidence, eventually admitted he was there. And after hearing submissions from Crown prosecution on Friday, Hawkins conceded he knew that he was about to participate in a home invasion by the time they had shown up at the home.
While Crown prosecution was seeking a sentence of nine to 11 years, defence argued for six years. Hawkins had been drinking at the time but also suffers central nervous damage from being shot in the head in 1990. The condition requires him to take anti-anxiety medication but he was not doing so at the time of the incident, the court was told.
Brecknell found Crown's suggestion too high given Hawkins' limited involvement and defence's position too low, particularly given his extensive criminal record of 71 convictions over nearly 40 years. The record includes a seven-year sentence for manslaughter for an apparent drug debt collection gone wrong.
Hawkins received credit for five months time served prior to sentencing, meaning there are another seven years seven months remaining on his sentence.The cases against the two others remain ongoing and none of the allegations against them have yet been proven in court.
