Robert Chickite was drunk again when he tried to push a shopping court loaded with meat out of Walmart without paying.
The cart was loaded with approximately $150 worth of meat products when the 28-year-old Campbell River man was approached by a store employee on the afternoon of May 27.
Chickite was heavily intoxicated and didn’t pay attention to demands to remain at the scene. Instead, he went across 16th Avenue into the woods near Nunns Creek Park and that’s where RCMP found him a short time later thanks in part to photographs that staff took of him.
Chickite was arrested for theft under $5,000 and breaching his bail conditions by consuming alcohol. Chickite was later released, but on June 14, police received a call about a suspicious man checking out vehicles in the Campbellton area. When the officer arrived at the scene, he caught Chickite jumping off the back of a camper. Chickite claimed he was looking for a friend, but was arrested because he had been drinking again.
He’s been in custody since then in Victoria. On Monday, he appeared by video in Campbell River provincial court and entered guilty pleas to theft and one count of breaching a court order; a second breach charge was dropped in exchange for the guilty pleas.
Crown prosecutor Adrienne Venturini told the court that Chickite has a four-page long criminal record and asked the judge to impose a 45-day jail sentence.
Defence counsel told Judge Brian Saunderson that Chickite has struggled with alcohol most of his life and again wants to enter a residential treatment program. The defence lawyer also asked to impose a sentence of time served.
But Judge Saunderson noted Chickite’s lengthy criminal record and agreed to the Crown’s proposal for 45 days, less time served, for a sentence of three weeks. Chickite must also pay a $200 victim fine surcharge.
