Man admits he did it, but doesn’t remember
Did the crimes, just doesn’t remember doing them, Daniel Johnson says
Johnson, 44, pleaded guilty in provincial court in St. John’s Thursday afternoon to 13 charges, including multiple thefts, armed robberies and assaults, resulting from a crime spree last December.
Aggressive behaviour and violence are things for which Daniel Johnson admits he’s been known. He says stealing and lying, however, are not normally among his character traits.
Johnson, 44, pleaded guilty in provincial court in St. John’s Thursday afternoon to 13 charges, including multiple thefts, armed robberies and assaults, resulting from a crime spree last December.
“Truthfully, I don’t remember a lot of (that) week,” Johnson told the court. “But I believe I am responsible. I have no doubt I’m responsible and I’m sorry for any undue stress I put on these people.”
Johnson racked up the majority of the charges over a 30-hour period between Dec. 17 and 18. There were thefts of beer from five different convenience stores in the metro area, and armed robberies of cash and cigarettes from Caines Grocery and Deli on Duckworth Street and Needs on Merrymeeting Road, just 10 minutes apart. Johnson had an imitation gun during the robberies, and pointed it and threatened to kill the store clerk in each case.
During the Needs robbery, Johnson entered the store and immediately beat a customer over the head, knocking him unconscious before heading towards the clerk and demanding cash.
Less than an hour later, Johnson entered West Side Charlie’s on Kenmount Road and asked staff to call him a cab before beating a male employee with the imitation gun and leaving him with a broken finger and cuts in the head that required multiple stitches.
“I don’t understand that (attack) myself,” Johnson told Judge Lori Marshall, saying he wanted to apologize to the victim. He also apologized to the court.
“I apologize to the court for once again appearing here. I’m sure I’ve said before that I wouldn’t come here again,” Johnson said.
Johnson’s criminal record contains a number of violent incidents, including a conviction in 2012 for beating a man with a three-foot piece of steel at a party. The man was in hospital for a week and required surgery. At that time, Johnson was sentenced to two years in prison.
Johnson’s lawyer, Christine Casey, told the court Johnson had suffered abuse as a child and started drinking at a young age before leaving home as a teenager and moving to St. John’s, where he fell in with the wrong crowd and turned to drugs. He was eventually diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder, she said, but had been doing well until last summer.
Johnson told the judge he had ended a 15-year relationship with his girlfriend, and his teenage son moved away.
“I had the wrong impression in my own mind that I wasn’t needed,” he said.
Crown prosecutor Shawn Patten acknowledged most cases before the court include issues of substance abuse and mental illness, but “this is not an acceptable route to curb an addictions issue. The community needs to be safe.”
Patten and Casey made a joint submission on sentencing: five years and one month behind bars for the 13 charges, including a number of sentences to run concurrently and credit given to Johnson at the standard 1.5 rate for the time he has spent on remand.
Proceedings will continue Friday, after which Marshall will set a date for sentencing.