Girls get probation for gas bar robbery
Two teenage girls were handed probation and community service hours today for holding up a Prince Albert gas station at knifepoint.
The teens, ages 15 and 17, pleaded guilty to robbing the Canadian Tire gas bar on Second Ave. W. Sept. 17. Crown Prosecutor Cameron Scott said the girls showed the lone clerk a knife with a four-inch blade before demanding cash and cigarettes. The teens left the store with $110 and a single pack of cigarettes, he said, before fleeing the scene on foot.
An attempt to track the suspects using a police dog failed, Scott said, but police distributed surveillance images of the robbery to media organizations and Crime Stoppers. Tips from the public led to the girls’ arrest despite the dark hoods they wore to conceal their identities.
Despite the girls’ young ages, Scott asked for a sentence of deferred custody followed by probation. Robbery is a very serious offence, he said, and adults would almost certainly receive custody under the same circumstances.