No jail time for man who terrorized B.C. London Drugs staff with metal pipe
A man who went on a violent rampage with a metal pipe and threatened to kill staff at a London Drugs in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside won’t serve any additional time behind bars.
Tye William Lawr was handed a 60-day conditional sentence, followed by 12 months of probation for the Jan. 9 incident.
Lawr, who has 25 aliases and a court history in B.C. dating back to 1999, used the pipe to try and attack staff, before smashing out one of the retailer’s front windows.
He pleaded guilty to multiple charges, including assault with a weapon and uttering death threats.
“I wouldn’t say it was surprising,” London Drugs general manager of loss prevention Tony Hunt said of the sentence.
But he said the sentence sends the wrong message to the public and to other would-be offenders.
“We’ve got a bunch of employees that were in a store in a public place affected by a really dramatic and intense situation where you’ve got somebody swinging a metal pipe, threatening to kill, shoot, break bones, and ultimately breaking a glass window at the front of the store essentially terrorized, and really counting on our justice system to make them feel like this is being taken seriously,” Hunt said.
“For somebody just reading the headline, it’s really difficult to see how that could be taking this seriously.”
In January, the retailer said it was considering moving its store, the flagship tenant of the Woodwards building, out of the location when its lease expires in October, citing an increase in crime.
And, no doubt, there is a direct relation to an increase in illegal drug use.
ABC Vancouver Coun. Peter Meiszner said the city is launching a community policing centre in the Woodwards’ building and focused on cracking down on crime in the area.
“The city is doing everything it can to try and improve public safety in the Downtown Eastside,” he said.
“We’ve hired over 100 new police officers, we’ve started Task Force Barrage with the VPD to target those who are preying on vulnerable people in this neighbourhood.”
More policing is good, but what's the point when judges are going to throw violent criminals back out onto the streets as fast as the police can remove them.
Judges should be judged on whether they protect innocent Canadians more than they protect violent criminals. Canada and BC's justice system is seriously pathetic.
But he said those changes need to be supported by federal changes to stiffen bail and release conditions for repeat offenders.
Ottawa moved last year to tighten bail conditions, reversing the onus for certain people accused of violent offences such as those charged with firearms offences and intimate partner violence to show why they should be released.
But some critics have argued the changes did not go far enough or are not being adhered to by judges.
Global News is seeking comment from B.C.’s attorney general on the sentence.
Hunt, meanwhile, said more needs to be done to protect workers on the front line.
“We need them to continue to dig hard, to find ways to ensure that our systems evolve and focus attention on trying to protect people who are just trying to go about doing their job. They need to be protected,” he said.
“Violence against retail employees, any service employees, is completely unacceptable.”
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