Armed robber sentenced to seven years in prison

A Windsor judge urged an armed robber to turn his life around Friday before sending him to prison for sticking a shotgun in a woman’s face and trying to steal her car on Christmas Eve.

On Dec. 24, 2017, Owen Jacob Cazes climbed into a Windsor woman’s car, pointed the muzzle of a sawed-off shotgun at her and threatened to “bash” her head in if she didn’t get out immediately.

“I hope you listen to my words,” Superior Court Justice Kirk Munroe told Cazes on Friday. “You have a very long life in front of you. You are bright. You have a choice.”

Munroe sentenced Cazes to seven years in prison minus a one-year credit for time served in pre-sentence custody.

Cazes, 28, was found guilty in November of 13 charges, including robbery while armed with a shotgun, pointing a firearm, careless use of a firearm and possession of stolen property exceeding $5,000.

Defence lawyer Neil Rooke said his client has yet to decide if he will appeal.

Cazes, who has a history of drug addiction and mental illness, is also facing drug and firearms charges in Sarnia.

He has a lengthy criminal record but no previous firearms convictions. This will also be his first stay in a penitentiary.

The prosecution and defence lawyers made a joint submission in February for a seven-year sentence. Munroe said at the time he wasn’t sure if that was an appropriate sentence given Cazes’ past failures to seize on opportunities to reform himself. But he ultimately agreed to it on Friday.

“You unlawfully and intentionally robbed a woman of her car at the point of a sawed-off shotgun,” he told the offender. “This is a serious offence.”

Munroe said the sentence must address the “abhorrence” of the crime. He told Cazes the life he has been leading will either end in prison or a violent death.

“Although your old life may seem easy, it is a dead end,” he said.

Rooke said he hoped his client, who became a ward of the Children’s Aid Society after his father sexually and physically abused him, will take advantage of resources in prison to get his life on track.

“What’s significant about the penitentiary sentence is it’s going to offer certain services to Mr. Cazes that haven’t been available before,” said Rooke.

Those services include counselling and education, along with life skills Cazes never learned because he didn’t have appropriate role models to teach him, said Rooke.

“One of the things that all of the participants in the criminal justice system — the judiciary, the prosecution as well as the defence — want to see is a person succeed at rehabilitating and reintegrating into society,” said Rooke. “Sadly, the first opportunity that many of these people get is at the penitentiary setting where they have access to resources they were otherwise unaware of or hadn’t accessed before.”

I hope you listen to my words. You have a very long life in front of you. You are bright. You have a choice.