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A Brantford man who robbed two pharmacies with a handgun faced the wrath of an Ontario Court judge when he appeared in court recently.
When Kevin Couture, 43, apologized for traumatizing pharmacy workers during the October 2022 robberies, Justice Gethin Edward vented his frustration with the “woe is me” tale.
“I’m tired of this same old song and dance,” the judge said. “Every drug addict that comes before me, after they come down from their high: ‘Oh, your honour, I’m so sorry I beat the snot out of that person.’ ‘I’m so sorry I drove into that person.’ ‘I’m so sorry I robbed those two pharmacies with a handgun.’
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“It doesn’t translate into any kind of help for those hard-working individuals in the pharmacies who put up with that crap. I’m tired of it.”
Couture said his behaviour was “not like me” when he robbed a pharmacy at Grey Street and Wayne Gretzky Parkway with a gun on Oct. 18, 2022. Ten days later, Couture waved a gun at the employees of a second pharmacy on Colborne Street near James Street.
Each time, he was given some drugs and ran away. But the second time, Couture was tracked and arrested by police, who said they relieved him of a loaded handgun.
Lawyers Rana Thiara for the Crown and defence attorney Dale Henderson worked out a guilty plea and agreed Couture should be sentenced to eight years.
“He’s had a particularly difficult life,” Henderson said, “with a disruptive childhood, witness to abuse and then running afoul of an oxy addiction as the result of an injury.”
Couture, who had no criminal record, began taking suboxone to deal with his addiction and, since being incarcerated, has weaned himself off that.
In court, he pleaded guilty to robbery with a firearm, two counts of disguise with intent to commit a crime, unauthorized possession of a firearm, using a firearm while committing an indictable offence, and assault by act of gesture. Ten other charges were withdrawn.
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“I’m sorry,” he told the court. “I really apologize for everything and I really feel sorry for what I did to those people.”
Although the judge said apologizing did little to help the workers affected by the crimes, he did accept the joint submission from the lawyers.
Couture was given credit for the 585 days of actual time he served, enhanced by the usual rate plus some credit for extensive lock-downs and jail overcrowding to equal three years.
He will have a further five years to serve, be on a no-weapons order for life and submitted a DNA sample to the national offenders databank.
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