Woman gets 16 months in jail for robbery of would-be john
A Chatham man came to Windsor looking for sex with a prostitute, but Giselle McKenna and her band of thieving friends had other ideas. On Feb. 20, the would-be john arrived at an address on St. Antoine Street in Windsor’s west end for a sexual encounter he had arranged on the internet. A woman answered the door, but inside were another man and woman waiting in ambush.
McKenna, 23, pleaded guilty Thursday to robbery and forcible confinement in the incident. She was sentenced to 16 months in jail, followed by 18 month on probation.
McKenna was not one of the women in the room when the man arrived. She arrived later with another man. The fivesome, armed with a pellet gun, a switchblade, a hunting knife and an axe on a chain, forced the man back into his car and made him drive with them to various ATM machines and businesses to withdraw money. They even made him buy them a pizza.
At the end of the harrowing ordeal, they kicked him out of the vehicle, threw his keys at him and ran away. They threatened him not to call police, but he drove to a McDonald’s and called 911.
He said the group stole his wallet and an envelope from the trunk of his car that contained $20,000 — fees collected from a billiards league.
The man’s identity is protected by a court order banning publication of his name or other identifying information. McKenna is the fourth person to plead guilty in relation to the kidnapping. Jorge McConnell, 30, and David Bullock, 27, were sentenced to 2½ years in prison. Megan Subotin, 26, was sentenced to two years less a day in jail. Miranda Ackroyd, 22, is still before the courts.
Defence lawyer Evan Weber said McKenna had never been in trouble with police until recent months. She used to have a close relationship with her mother, but has become estranged from her family.
“She got caught up with a really wrong crowd. I know it sounds like a cliche, but that seems to be the case in this situation,” Weber said. Weber told Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean that McKenna deserved a lighter sentence than the others involved in the incident because, while she was a willing participant in the man’s theft and confinement, her role was more limited.
“She never put hands on him,” Weber told the judge. “She did not have a weapon. She did not threaten him.” McKenna stood in court wiping her face and eyes as the judge addressed her.
Dean urged her to make amends with her mother and get her life back on track.
“You deserve to have a good life, but your life is determined by the choices that you make.” Dean ordered McKenna to provide a blood sample for the DNA databank police use to solve crimes. She can’t possess any weapons for 10 years and can’t communicate with her victim during the time of her incarceration or probation. She also can’t associate or communicate with the two men who had been accused with her. The judge didn’t make the same condition in relation to the other accused women, noting that accommodations are limited for women in jails and the women may need to be housed together at some point. Until now, McKenna had been housed in Sarnia to keep her away from the other two women. When housed in the same facility, one of the other two women has been held in segregation.