BOTTLE DEPOT HOLDUP BLAMED ON DRUGS

The fact that someone has a drug problem is not a mitigating factor when it
comes to robbery, Judge Dave Plosz said in Red Deer provincial court on
Tuesday.

Plosz made the comment as he handed Andrew Lorne Muir a two-year jail term
for attempting to rob the COSMOS Bottle Depot in Red Deer's Oriole Park
neighbourhood last month.

Plosz said more and more area robberies are drug-related, putting people in
jeopardy.

Crown prosecutor Murray McPherson said that shortly after 9 a.m. on Oct.
17, a man entered the depot wearing a black hoodie and sunglasses.

The man was brandishing a machete-type knife at the clerk.

He addressed her by her first name and demanded she open the till. The
woman was not wearing a name-tag, McPherson said.

The clerk didn't open the till and after a few moments, the clerk told him
to get out.

"He took off running." The man did not get any money.

The clerk said she didn't believe it was happening, McPherson said.

"It was probably more like a movie than reality."

Three customers also witnessed the episode.

The clerk was able to identify the man as an ex-employee of the depot.

On Oct. 25, when Muir was arrested, he confessed to the robbery attempt.

Defence lawyer Michael Scrase said his client is in a common-law
relationship with two children.

"He admits to having a problem with drugs. He wants to serve time and get
counselling in penitentiary," said Scrase.

Although his client had no intention of using the weapon he was
brandishing, Scrase said it was certainly a situation that would cause
distress to the clerk and the customers.

"Basically he describes it as a spur of the moment thing that his drug
situation brought on."

Plosz said that he didn't consider drug addiction a mitigating
circumstance. He also noted Muir's past record.

"For a young man of 27 you have a pretty ugly record, Mr. Muir."

As well as the two-year term, Plosz prohibited Muir from owning firearms
for 10 years and issued a lifetime prohibition for prohibited and
restricted weapons.

A DNA order was also issued.