One-year jail sentence for robbery

In Taber provincial court on May 17, a 60-year-old Vauxhall man pled guilty to robbery, being disguised with intent, and failure to appear in court. William Blair Locke was sentenced to one year of incarceration and a $200 fine by Judge E.W. Peterson. A further charge of possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose was withdrawn by the Crown.

Crown prosecutor Phil Stiles read the facts of the case into the record. On Dec. 20, 2015, the accused entered a liquor store in Vauxhall with his face concealed by a scarf, removed a bottle of vodka and a bottle of clamato cocktail from the shelf, and proceeded to the checkout. When the items were being totalled by the store clerk, Locke removed a steak knife from his pocket and pointed it at the clerk.

This individual attempted to seize the knife from the accused, and a struggle ensued in which the clerk was eventually able to disarm Locke before he fled the premises in the direction of his residence. The accused was eventually identified and charged with a series of offences.

On Jan. 12, 2016, according to Stiles, the accused also failed to appear in court to answer to the charges. Locke was charged accordingly with that offence.

As a condition of his sentence, the accused was ordered to surrender a sample of his DNA to the National DNA Data Bank, and will be prohibited from possessing weapons for a period of 10 years.

Judge Peterson also issued a $260 victim-fine surcharge.

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