Thomas Eldred Hickey will find out how much more time he has to serve when he attends provincial court in Stephenville for sentencing July 18.
The Stephenville Crossing man is being sentenced for his part in the armed robbery of the Stephenville Dominion supermarket, which occurred on Dec. 6, 2010, and related public mischief police investigation involving the shooting of Mr. Hickey in Black Duck Siding on Dec. 7, 2010.
When asked by Judge Jacqueline Jenkins after submissions by the crown and defence attorneys on June 28 if he had anything he wanted to say, Mr. Hickey expressed remorse.
"I apologize to the victims and their families, to my family and to police for misleading them and taking resources away at that time from other cases,” he said. “I've had a lot of time to think about my actions and words can't describe my remorse."
Contributing member of society
Mr. Hickey said he went 33 years as a contributing member to society and that with the support of his family, once he completes his sentence, he will spend the rest of his life working and being a contributing member of society.
During his submission, Crown Attorney Adam Sparkes presented an agreed statement of facts, which he did not read out. He said there was a reduced workload in this case due to the co-accused already being sentenced, so they could use the principle of parity.
He said while Mr. Hickey didn't go into the store the night of the robbery, Mr. Hickey picked up the two co-accused, who carried out the robbery, afterwards.
"Mr. Hickey was a prior employer at the store, knew of its operations and shared it in the planning of this robbery, which is quite an aggravating factor," Mr. Sparkes said.
He suggested four to four-and-a-half years imprisonment for the robbery.
Mr. Sparkes said in the other cases of co-accused Shane David Sheppard and Richard Gerard King, other counts against them ran concurrent and felt there was no need to deviate from that, other than with the charge of public mischief, as it was a separate incident.
“I've had a lot of time to think about my actions and words can't describe my remorse." - Thomas Eldred Hickey
He asked for as little as a suspended sentence to two years incarceration on the charge.
"While Mr. Hickey came forward early in identifying he had mislead police, it's still a very serious charge," Mr. Sparkes said. "There was a lot of resources put into this and Sheppard participated in the public mischief and was sentenced for it, so the sentences for this should be fairly close."
He suggested in total that Mr. Hickey be sentenced to five to six years, submit a DNA sample and be given a lifetime firearms prohibition.
Support of family
Mr. Hickey's defence lawyer, Arnold Hussey, suggested that his client shouldn't receive more than four years in prison as the forcible confinement charge should run concurrent, as he was not in the store and didn't take part in duct taping the employee.
Mr. Hussey said while Mr. Hickey picked up the co-accused and disposed of some of the items used in the robbery, he also contributed to the recovery of some of those items.
Mr. Hussey said Mr. Hickey has the support of his family, including his mother who was in court; that he has taken responsibility for his actions and shown remorse and he is seeing a psychologist every second week.
He suggested a sentence of four years, less time served and asked that time served be credited at 1.5 days for each day served, which for the 228 days would represent 342 days.
Mr. Sparkes objected to the 1.5-day credit and said day for day credit is normal in such instances.
Mr. Hickey has been remanded in custody until the day of his sentencing.
