It was the final straw for dangerous offender

Despite history of violent crimes, judge believes he can be rehabilitated

When he passed a liquor store clerk a note that read, “Give me all the money in the till or I will shoot you,” Perry Pechawis committed the crime that would designate him a dangerous offender.

The attempted robbery at the Shell Lake Hotel bar in 2014 involved a threat of violence and became the predicate offence that led a North Battleford judge to declare Pechawis a dangerous offender last month.

The designation requires the Crown to prove a pattern of violent behaviour. A written decision outlined eight of the most violent offences on Pechawis’ criminal record, which contains more than 50 convictions.

In 2000, he threatened a man with a knife and forced him to extract money from an ATM. Eight years later, he robbed a frontdesk clerk at a Prince Albert hotel after punching and kicking her several times in the face.

Earlier that day, Pechawis confined a woman in a home and threatened to shoot her with a loaded rifle. The victim pushed the gun barrel away and he fired a shot into the floor. Pechawis returned to her home after the hotel robbery, threatened to rape her and barricaded the home, holding the people inside hostage until he passed out.

In each case, Pechawis said he had been binging on various drugs.

“This pattern is one of excessive use of substances resulting in violent offending to continue to maintain his highs,” Judge Bruce Bauer wrote in his decision.

He imposed a four-year sentence for the attempted robbery. Pechawis, 43, has eight months left to serve after receiving a remand credit of nearly three and a half years.

Bauer agreed with the Crown that an indeterminate sentence was not appropriate, citing the offender’s insight into his behaviour and willingness to take programs.

Pechawis also has a stable, supportive partner who is the director of the Ahtahkakoop First Nation Child and Family Services agency, Bauer noted. The couple got into an argument about Pechawis’ drug use before his latest offence, causing him to “slip” back into violent behaviour, the decision states.

When he is released from custody, Pechawis will be on a long-term supervision order for 10 years.