Antia Kwan

The offender pleaded guilty to two counts of armed robbery of jewelry stores and one count of fraud over $5,000 relating to a staged accident.

The court found the robberies were well-planned, sophisticated, and involved serious violence and risk to the public.

After considering the aggravating and mitigating factors, including the offender's relative youth and prospects for rehabilitation, the court imposed a global sentence of 7 years' imprisonment before credit.

The court granted enhanced credit for harsh pre-sentence custody conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic and credit for time spent on strict bail, resulting in a net sentence of 44.5 months to serve.

The accused was a passenger in a vehicle involved in a shootout with police in a nightclub parking lot.

The driver was killed, and the accused fled by crawling under a nearby pickup truck.

A prohibited firearm was later found under the truck.

The accused denied crawling under the truck or possessing the firearm.

The court rejected the accused's testimony, finding it not credible and contradicted by video evidence and officer testimony.

Applying the test for circumstantial evidence, the court concluded that the only rational inference was that the accused possessed the firearm and discarded it while hiding.

The accused was found guilty of both firearms offences.