A Vernon man will spend 23 months in jail after being convicted of robbery and breaking into a person’s home in October 2020.
According to a B.C. Supreme Court decision published Tuesday, April 11, Troy Reginald Main was convicted on two counts for offences that occurred Oct. 26, 2020.
The offences are the robbery of a man, who we’ve chosen not to name, and a break-and-enter into the man’s residence with the intent to commit an indictable offence.
The decision notes that Main and the victim were known to each other as they had been friends for some time prior to the offences.
Main and another unidentified man entered the victim’s residence, a motel room, while the victim was asleep. The victim’s female friend was awake and watching TV. Main and the unidentified man entered wearing masks and were hooded. Each was armed, one with a hammer and the other with a Taser-type baton.
The victim was struck by the unidentified man a number of times, including on his head, but the decision notes Main’s specific role in this physical assault is unclear. However, Justice Al Betton says in his decision that Main and his partner in crime “did act in concert in their attendance and in ransacking the room, apparently looking for the complainant’s wallet.”
Stolen from the residence were, among other things, drugs and drug paraphernalia that the complainant had. The incident in the room lasted about 10 minutes and left the complainant injured with what appeared to be a concussion and a skull fracture.
“Suffice it to say it was, in the scheme of things, a relatively significant assault,” Betton said.
Main was 20 years old at the time of the offence, which his counsel put forward as a mitigating factor.
However, there were aggravating factors including the fact that the victim was in his home at the time of the offence, weapons were used and the victim was known to Main.
The decision notes that around age 15, Main’s life began to be influenced by drug use, including methamphetamines and heroin.
It also notes Main’s “cognitive issues” which, together with the drug use, “complicate…the prospects for his rehabilitation.”
The Crown sought a seven to eight year sentence less 13 months credit for time already served in custody, while the defence believed a sentence of two years less 13 months followed by three years of probation was appropriate. In the end, Justice Betton settled on a sentence closer to the defence counsel’s preference: three years minus 13 months credit for time served.
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