CITIZEN PHOTO BY BRENT BRAATEN
Santa gives a gift to Hayden O'Bryan, 7, while his mom Dana helps in the pediatric ward of the University Hospital of Northern B.C. on Tuesday. The Dan Strickland real estate team provided gifts to children on the pediatric ward and brightened up their day.
Two men sentenced for home invasion
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff mnieben@pgcitizen.ca
Two men were sentenced Monday for their roles in a botched home invasion in which one of the perpetrators got more than she bargained for.
Michael Campbell-Alexander,
18, will serve a further eight months and three weeks in jail and Elliott Ryan Joseph, 31, another 3 1/2 months, both sentences followed by two years probation, from the Feb. 2 incident at a 3600-block Blackburn Road home.
The court was told the home’s resident was asleep when he woke up to find someone he identified by her voice as Crystal Dawn Schielke, 23, holding a gun to his head. She was followed by a masked man who bear sprayed him while the two demanded he tell her “where the money was” before he was bear sprayed a second time.
They found $400 to $500 in cash and “half-heartedly” tried to tie him up before hitting him over the head with a keyboard and taking off. But the resident followed them out armed with a hatchet.
He found a sedan stuck in the snow outside his home and broke the driver’s side window.
Then using the hatchet’s butt end, he broke the arm of a man who was behind the wheel. He then used the butt end to break the jaw of Schielke, who was sitting in the back.
A neighbour was about to help push the car out of the driveway when the resident told her to stop and he had just been robbed.
Police, who were called to the scene shortly after 8:30 p.m., arrested the two. But at least three others - Campbell-Alexander, Joseph and a youth whose name cannot be printed under a court-ordered publication ban - had taken off in the resident’s pickup truck after finding its keys in the house.
Campbell-Alexander was apprehended five days later and was found with one of the homeowner’s firearms. Joseph was located in early March.
A 12-day trial had been scheduled on the matter but did not go ahead after Campbell-Alexander, Joseph and Schielke each pleaded guilty to a number of charges.
Crown accepted the pleas after concluding convictions on the remaining charges would be doubtful because of the confusion surrounding the event.
Schielke told police she had been on a multi-day drug binge when she came up with the idea of robbing the home while the group was driving around the city. She knew the resident through a friend, alleged he was making “moonshine” and was certain he had money.
In court Monday, the resident was described Monday as an “honest, working individual who met the wrong person through work.” He no longer lives in the home, the court also heard.
The man found behind the wheel told police he had also been on a binge and had passed out in the car. He woke up to see the culprits run out of the house and yelling at him to “drive, drive” and, in a panic, got the vehicle stuck.
Both Campbell-Alexander, Elliott and Schielke have remained in custody since their arrests.
In all, Campbell-Alexander was sentenced to two years in jail, less enhanced credit for time served, on counts of break, enter and theft, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of a stolen weapon, possession of a firearm while prohibited and breach of probation.
Joseph was sentenced to 18 months, less enhanced credit for time served, on counts of break, enter and theft, and theft of a motor vehicle.
In agreeing to a joint submission on sentencing from Crown and defence counsels, provincial court judge Michael Gray called their actions “horrendous” and “violent” and warned they face lengthy jail terms if caught committing the same crimes again.
Joseph was also sentenced to six months concurrent for trying to sell stolen property in front of a convenience store in Fort St. James in October 2013. The items had been stolen earlier in the day from some trucks parked outside a local hotel.
Schielke pleaded guilty to one count each of robbery, break and enter and committing an indictable offence, using an imitation firearm in committing an indictable offence, disguising her face with an intent to commit an offence. She will be sentenced at a later date.
The minor has been previously sentenced and charges against the man found behind the car’s wheel have been stayed. His name is also protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
Food for Fare program running
Citizen staff
The city is embarking on its annual food drive with the return of its Food for Fare program.
Starting Tuesday, transit users can exchange a donation of a non-perishable food item for a bus ride until Thursday.
On Dec. 21, members of city council will deliver the collected food to the food bank at the Salvation Army’s Curt Garland Community Support Centre.
“Groups such as the Salvation Army that provide necessities to the less fortunate require a great amount of support,” said Mayor Lyn Hall, in a press
release. “The smallest donation can help support an individual in need. This is one of the most important parts of the holiday season.”
Transit users should also take note of seasonal changes to the bus schedules.
On Dec. 24, there will be regular weekday service until 7 p.m.
There will be no service Dec. 25-26, with regular service resuming Dec. 27.
On New Year’s Eve, there will be regular weekday service, with free rides between 7 p.m. and 3 a.m.
Buses will not be running Jan. 1 and will pick up as regularly scheduled on Jan. 2.
First Nations should get responsibility for aboriginal youth in care, says Teegee
Mark NIELSEN Citizen staff
Responsibility for aboriginal youth in care should be turned over to First Nations social agencies as part of any overhaul of the Ministry of Children and Families, says Carrier Sekani Family Services executive director Mary Teegee.
Teegee pointed to the transfer of authority for aboriginal health in B.C. from the federal government to the First Nations Health Authority as an example of how it can proceed.
“We should be doing that same work within child welfare,” Tee-gee said. “We started that work, it’s just that there is no longer funding for it, it was cut down a couple of years ago.”
Teegee’s comments were made in light of the release Monday of former deputy minister Bob Plecas’ review of the Ministry of Children and Families.
Plecas recommended the provincial government pursue a strategic four-year plan that would include a “rethink of the management model” for MCFD.
Plecas also called for a $50-million increase to the ministry’s budget to hire 120 more full-time staff in the coming year, followed by fixed increases over the next four years to restore diminished funding.
Additionally, Plecas said an indigenous or aboriginal person should be hired as an assistant deputy minister as part of strengthening the office of the child welfare director.
Teegee said keeping aboriginal children with their biological parents if at all possible needs to be emphasized and pointed to a one-year pilot program Carrier Sekani oversaw as an example of an approach that works.
The program provided six weeks of round-the-clock wraparound support for “intensive family preservation.”
“[In the past year], we have saved over 20 families that have not had their children removed because we provided that support,” Teegee said. “We know that works, yet again, we’re not funded to do that.”
Regardless of their culture, children need to know who they
TEEGEE
are and where they come from, Teegee said.
“Later in life, they will have better outcomes if they have a strong sense of self and a strong sense of identity,” Teegee said.
She also said the province needs to broaden its focus to account for youth no longer in state care.
“If you look at the outcomes for former children in care, the ones that have aged out, they have the highest rates of suicide, they’re usually living in abject poverty, they’re usually sexually exploited,” Teegee said.
“They are the most vulnerable of our society, so obviously something is not working within the system.”
In one high-profile case, Carley Fraser committed suicide in 2014, a day after she turned 19 and was no longer in care. Despite her mother’s demands, the ministry refused to review the case, but recent legislation has changed B.C.’s Agreement with Youths to provide $5 million in support to youths aged 19 to 24 as they transition to adulthood.
Because of restricted funding, Teegee noted social workers employed by First Nations agencies are not compensated as well as an MCFD social worker.
Teegee was critical of Plecas’ suggestion that children and youth representative Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond should focus on advocacy while the ministry takes over responsibility for oversight.
“That really is not a good idea considering that we definitely need an independent body,” Teegee said.
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