A 21-year-old Charlottetown man has been sentenced to almost two years in the provincial correctional facility for his role in a violent home invasion in the city this past April.
The sentence was imposed in the case of Cameron Geoffrey Dobson.
Dobson pleaded guilty in September to a charge of committing an assault during the commission of a robbery.
Chief Provincial Court Judge John Douglas sentenced Dobson to serve close to three years in custody but reduced that sentence in recognition of time served while awaiting the disposition of his case.
Dobson spent approximately six months in jail on remand but was given credit for that time at the rate of 1.5 days for each day served.
He will be required to serve two years less a day, the maximum sentence one can serve in a provincial correctional facility.
The charge against Dobson was laid following an incident that took place April 30th at an apartment building on Queen Street.
According to an agreed statement of facts filed with the court Dobson and a second man, Mark Kneebone, knew that the victim, a 55-year-old woman, lived alone in an apartment there.
The victim was on a number of prescriptions for both physical and mental health issues.
The two men arrived unannounced and uninvited, knocked on the victim’s door and rang her doorbell.
When the victim opened her door Dobson and Kneebone forced their way inside.
The victim yelled at them, threw a lamp and attempted to kick Dobson in the crotch.
Dobson held the victim from behind with his arm placed across her body. She tried to grab the phone but could not reach it.
While Dobson was holding the victim Kneebone stole her laptop computer, her prescription medication, her father’s wedding ring and approximately $100 in cash.
When Kneebone found the prescription Dobson loosened his grip on the victim.
The two men told Stewart that if she went to police she would be killed.
They then ran out of the building.
Frantic and upset after being robbed, the victim fled her apartment and went to a nearby pet store where she called 911.
The victim suffered minor physical injuries during the incident that included redness around her throat as a result of the altercation with Dobson.
Crown Counsel John McMillan had recommended Dobson be sentenced to a term in excess of three years in a federal penitentiary.
Kneebone was sentenced in September to serve eight years in a federal penitentiary for two home invasions.
He received two years in prison for this particular offence and six years for an even more violent home invasion in which the victim, an 83-year-old woman, was threatened with a knife and suffered a cut to her hand when she tried to protect herself.
