‘Fragile’ crack addict sentenced for gas
station heists
By Sue Yanagisawa
Local News - Tuesday, August 24, 2004 @ 07:00
A woman whose lawyer claims her boyfriend got her hooked on crack cocaine and
twice sent her to rob a gas station last December has been sentenced to house
arrest.
Darnelle A. McCaw, 30, received a conditional 15-month sentence to serve in her
home, the first 10 months of it under house arrest.
In passing sentence last week, Mr. Justice Rommel Masse said such offences would
ordinarily carry a three- to five-year term in penitentiary.
McCaw has been diagnosed as bipolar and has other serious mental health
problems, and Masse said he was concerned that sending her to jail could trigger
self-mutilating behaviour, even suicide attempts.
McCaw, who hadn’t been in trouble with the law before, slashed her own arms in
custody after her arrest in late December. The judge said he didn’t believe
putting her in jail would best serve either her or the community.
“She ... is a fragile and vulnerable person who would be picked on mercilessly
in jail [by savvy inmates],” Masse said.
McCaw pleaded guilty five months ago to two armed robberies and an assault with
a weapon on a gas station attendant. Her sentencing was put over so the court
could obtain a presentence report and psychiatric evaluation.
At the time of McCaw’s plea, assistant Crown attorney Priscilla Christie told
the judge that her client robbed the Sunoco Gas Bar at 630 Princess St. twice in
six days. In the early hours of Dec. 16, she confronted the attendant with a
large knife and fled with $209.
On Dec. 22, a different attendant chased her as she made off with $225 from the
cash register and tried to stop her by kicking at her feet.
Christie told the judge that McCaw responded by lunging at the man with the
knife, yelling: “Can’t you see I’m [messed] up on drugs!”
He backed off, but followed her to a car parked on Nelson Street, where a young
man was waiting for her.
The attendant flagged down a taxi after the car drove off and he and the cabbie
tried to follow the couple. They ended up losing them, but the attendant
recognized the driver as a regular customer of the gas bar.
Based on the attendant’s description, Kingston Police found and seized what
was believed to be the getaway car. McCaw and a 27-year-old man, whose case is
still before the courts, were arrested and charged with the robberies after the
man call police Dec. 27 inquiring about his impounded car.
McCaw’s lawyer, Wayne King, told the court that his client’s is “a very
sad case.”
He said the woman has a university degree and for six years, before her bipolar
condition was diagnosed, he said she worked with handicapped children.
Then she had what King described as “a major breakdown” and ended up in a
coma for a week as a result of “over-medicating.” He told the court it took
16 rounds of shock therapy to bring McCaw around.
After she recovered, McCaw secured a placement at the psychiatric hospital
hoping to re-enter the workforce. King said that’s where she met her
boyfriend, a crack addict who got her hooked. The man sent her out to rob the
gas station to support of their habits.
The judge described her co-accused as “a crack addict and a scoundrel and I
would further indicate a coward as well.”
The judge said McCaw is very naive, suffers from low self-esteem and already had
problems with substance abuse when she met her boyfriend.
When she committed the crimes, he said, she believed she was in love. The judge
noted that reports and assessments submitted to the court suggest she’s now
incapable of holding a job.
After McCaw completes her sentence, she’s subject to a two-year probation and
was ordered to complete 100 hours of community service.
She’s banned from drinking alcohol or using drugs that haven’t been
prescribed by doctors, but she must take all medications her doctors prescribe.
She must also participate in any assessment or treatment arranged by her
supervisor and the judge banned her from having any contact or communication
with her co-accused.
McCaw is subject to a 10-year weapon ban, has been ordered to give a DNA sample
and will have to submit to any random drug and alcohol testing required by her
supervisor.