VILE ROBBER DESERVES NO SYMPATHY OVER HIS DRUG ADDICTION

Society's current tendency to view drug addicts as victims of their
dependency, rather than the cause of it, has predictable
consequences.

One is that when people are accused of criminal acts in pursuit of
illicit drugs they have a ready-made alibi: "My addiction made me do
it, m'lud."

Frank Siniscalchi, the notorious SkyTrain mugger, offered precisely
that excuse for his five brutal robberies of women in 2006.

The 38-year-old former hospital worker, a father of three, told
Provincial Court Judge Raymond Low he was addicted to crack cocaine at
the time. The drug was like a deadly poison that took over his body,
he said.

It is encouraging that the judge appears not to have been unduly
swayed by Siniscalchi's efforts to shrug the blame from his own
shoulders. Low handed down a sentence of eight years.

Many people would argue that someone who savagely attacks defenceless
women with a metal object deserves to be locked up for much longer. As
Low observed, one of Siniscalchi's victims suffered permanent brain
damage, and it was a miracle none was killed. Nor is it of great
comfort that Canada's absurdly lenient parole laws mean he could be
out on the streets in two years.

But a more disturbing aspect of this case and countless others is
seeing the guilty play the victim to save their own skins.

Siniscalchi made his own choice to do drugs. His traumatized victims
had no choice about their fate. He deserves no sympathy. They do.