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BRANTFORD – A man who used a knife to try and steal a woman’s vehicle while she was loading a pizza box into the back seat has been sent to prison.
Corey Simmons, 28, was addicted to fentanyl on Jan. 24 when he approached the woman, who was carrying her take-out order near downtown Brantford, and wrestled the keys away from her.
“He got the keys, entered the vehicle and tried to drive away but was pulled out of the vehicle by bystanders who restrained him,” said assistant Crown attorney Anthony Minelli.
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In the struggle, Simmons dropped his weapon – a folding knife.
Police arrived quickly and, when they searched the man, they found old screwdrivers, a pipe and stripped wires.
Simmons has a record of theft and destructive crimes, such as flooding cells at Brantford’s courthouse and damaging the memorial candle display at a local Catholic church. He was still on probation when the pizza restaurant incident occurred.
He was held in custody after his arrest and, after spending a couple of months in jail where he was usually the third man in a two-person cell, sleeping on the floor, he quickly pleaded guilty to robbery.
“He’s remorseful,” said defence lawyer Jesse Dostal, noting that his client has mental health issues and is now on methadone for his fentanyl addiction. “He was living on the street at the time of this offence and it was a crime of desperation.
“He wants to get clean, figure out his medications and get back into the workforce.”
Justice Robert Gee agreed with a joint submission to sentence Simmons to his time already served and a two-years-plus-one-day sentence that would ensure he goes to a prison.
“Until you get your drugs under control, you’re just going to be back in jail,” said the judge. “If you engage in something like this again, the sentence will start at a penitentiary sentence and go up from there. You’ve got a couple of years to get that sorted out.”
Simmons was also ordered to stay away from his victim, submit some DNA for the national offenders databank and have no weapons for life.
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