Man sentenced to volunteer at church he broke into
Robert Newell wrote to priest, asked to complete his community service there when he gets out of jail
Robert (Bobby) Newell admitted Thursday he felt strange making suggestions on his own jail sentence to the court.
Convicted of breaking into St. Pius X Church in St. John’s in the fall of 2016 and representing himself in court proceedings, Newell proposed an eight-month jail term as well as an order for 240 hours of community service.
“I’ve written a letter of apology to Father Wayne Bolton (of St. Pius X),” Newell explained, handing a copy of the letter to the judge. “I suggested, if he was open to it, that I could serve the community service as volunteer work at the church.”
Justice Vikas Khaladkar granted him the community service order, and put a condition on an order that he stay away from the church, allowing him to visit the church only for volunteer work arranged through a probation officer.
Khaladkar also sentenced Newell to 360 days in prison for the break-in and an extra 30 days for breaching court orders. With credit for the time he has served in custody — with no enhanced credit, since Newell wasn’t eligible for it — Newell has a little over eight months left to serve.
Once he’s released, he’ll be bound by a two-year probation order, with directions to not leave the province and to participate in drug counselling.
The Crown had been looking for a 14-month jail sentence for Newell, who will turn 35 this month and has a 52-page criminal record, with dozens of convictions for break-ins beginning when he was 14 years old.
His adult convictions have predominately involved breaking into commercial buildings, prosecutor Jude Hall noted, and a 14-month jail term would have been consistent with the increasingly long sentences on his record.
Hall said he would make a similar argument next week at another sentencing hearing for Newell, this time for breaking into the premises of a siding contractor in St. John’s shortly before the church break-in. Newell is representing himself in that matter as well.
Newell acknowledged having been addicted to drugs since he was 14, and addicted to opiates since he was 21. In a written submission to Khaladkar, Newell said he had committed the church break-in as a spur-of-the-moment effort to feed his addiction.
Delivering his sentence, Khaladkar said Newell “appeared genuine and contrite,” and said he had been “struck by (Newell’s) preparation, manner of presenting himself and his positive attitude” while representing himself in court. He spoke of Newell’s potential to succeed if he were able to overcome his addiction issues.
“He is intelligent, well-spoken, and appears to understand he needs to get this under control,” the judge said.
Though Newell had pleaded not guilty to the break-in at St.
Pius X, a one-litre Graves apple juice box did him in. Captured on surveillance video with the box in his hand as he broke into the church, Newell left it there, complete with his DNA on the spout.
Father Bolton testified he had arrived at the church around 7:30 one Sunday morning to prepare for mass and saw the juice carton, which he picked up and brought with him into the sacristy. As he got to the sacristy door, he heard a noise and a man came out. He told the priest he had been using the washroom.
Bolton said there was damage to some of the church doors, door frames and drawers, and the pix — a box used to carry the Eucharist to parishioners who are unable to get to church for communion — was missing.