Convicted local armed robber Andrew Stevenson will likely receive between an eleven and eight year jail term.
That’s the range set out in arguments by the Crown and the defence during the sentencing hearing in Nelson court Tuesday.
35 year old Stevenson has already pleaded guilty to eight counts in connection with the robberies of various locations in Nelson and Castlegar over a seven week period last year.
In two cases – at the Kootenay Currency Exchange and Nelson and District Credit Union – he brandished a loaded sawed off shot gun. During the currency heist he actually fired it at a door behind which staff were standing.
The Crown could not prove the gun used to hold up the credit union in Castlegar and Johnny’s Grocery in Robson was the same weapon or even a real gun.
The prosecution says the extreme danger to which he exposed his victims – who were employees and the public- as well as the planning behind his robberies , justifies the 11 years total sentencing they’re seeking.
The defence argues Stevenson was himself a victim of drug addiction and a life of pain from rheumatoid arthritis and should receive an 8 year term.
The judge will deliver his sentence Wednesday morning.