Yellowknife teen sentenced for convenience store robberies

A Yellowknife teenager who robbed two convenience stores and tried to steal a laptop was given a two-and-a-half year sentenceon Wednesdayafter the judge dismissed a lighter sentence proposed by both the prosecutor and defence.

ShayneChassie, 18,pleaded guilty to two charges of robbery and one of theft.

During sentencing, the judge heard he was associated with a drug-dealing gang and had lost an expensive jacket belonging to one of the members.

They had assaulted him twice in an attempt to get him to pay the $400they wanted for the jacket.

So he went on a four-day crime spree in the city in April, in which he pepper-sprayed a convenience store clerk at the Shell gas station in a failed robbery attempt, tried to steal a laptop from Shopper's Drug Mart and was chased down by a clerk, and robbedthe Mac's convenience store armed with pepper spray and a knife.

Though the Crown and defence had agreed a sentence of 18 months was appropriate,Judge Bernadette Schmaltz said a message needed to be sent to young people who think it's glamorous to be associated with gangs. She said the risks are not worth the consequences.

After granting him six months credit for time spent in jail awaiting trial, she sentenced him to an additional two years less a day. He will also be on probation for a year after he gets out.