LOCATION OF METHADONE CLINIC BLAMED FOR ADDICT'S RELAPSE

A lawyer for a Fredericton woman who robbed a gas station and had to
be stopped at gunpoint after a high-speed chase says his client fell
victim to drug dealers lurking around the city's methadone clinic.

Victoria Janis Robichaud, 36, was sentenced to five years in prison
Friday. She pleaded guilty after threatening to use a syringe while
robbing a local gas station, and for leading police on a chase that
went through a school zone and reached speeds of up to 160 kilometres an hour.

Her lawyer, Doug Smith, said his client was doing well after her
release in June on a 2006 offence related to drugs. She was in the
methadone program.

But he said the Sept. 5 incident happened because she gave in to the
temptation of predators who offered her drugs outside the Victoria
Health Centre.

"You have to fight your way through the drug dealers," he said,
telling the court he was recounting what his client told him about
the area outside the clinic.

"Coming out of the methadone clinic, this is where the drug dealers
are," Smith said, noting the proximity of other services such as the
soup kitchen and emergency shelter.

"Why don't they do something and move this clinic somewhere where the
drug dealers can't get to them?" Smith asked.

Robichaud didn't comment on the matter in court.

Offered a chance to speak by the judge, she said, "I'm really sorry.
I can't blame anyone but myself."

Judge Graydon Nicholas said Robichaud isn't the first person to enter
his courtroom after falling off the methadone program.

"We have a lot of them," he said

"I agree with Mr. Smith that areas ... like where the methadone
clinic is, these other temptations are there. It's a shame."

Nicholas said Robichaud's relapse into drugs was sad, but didn't make
right her crime or her dangerous attempts at escape.

He sentenced her to five years in jail -- four years for the armed
robbery charge and one year for dangerous driving. One-year sentences
for failing to stop for police will be served concurrently.

Robichaud also had her licence suspended for five years and is
prohibited from ever possessing a firearm. She must also submit a DNA
sample to a national registry of offenders.