John Stark.

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KAMLOOOPS - A man with a lengthy history of property crime convictions was sentenced to nine years in prison today for two violent home invasions last November.

John Andrew Carlton Stark, 32, previously pleaded guilty to a number of charges including aggravated assault, break and enter to commit an indictable offence, pointing a firearm, using a firearm, and assault with a weapon.

Justice Warren B. Milman sentenced Stark to nine years in prison today, Nov. 2, in Kamloops Supreme Court.

Crown counsel Sarah Firestone was asking for a sentence of to 10- to 12-years of imprisonment for the home invasions he committed a year ago in the Campbell Creek neighbourhood.

Around 4 p.m. on Nov. 20, 2017, Stark broke into a house on Coyote Drive through a window. Court heard Stark stole several items including a wallet, passport and a laptop from the home and placed them in a backpack. The homeowner was returning from work when he encountered an intruder in his house.

Justice Milman said Stark told the homeowner, “I have a gun and I’m going to shoot” resulting in a struggle between Stark and the homeowner.

Stark ended up getting the upper hand in the fight and the homeowner was badly hurt. Justice Milman told court that the homeowner suffered 20 lacerations to his head including a broken nose and a fractured cheekbone. Stark fled and left the backpack and tried to escape the house through the garage door.

“Mr. Stark ran into the street and the (homeowner) called 911,” Milman said.

Shortly after fleeing the first residence on Coyote Drive, Stark then entered a different residence on the same street. The homeowner was upstairs taking a shower and his two children aged 3 and 6 were downstairs watching a movie when Stark broke in through the door.

The homeowner confronted Stark and was stabbed in the chest with a knife. Both children witnessed the stabbing.

Stark fled and was spotted by an off-duty RCMP officer getting into a Ford Flex but was unable to start the vehicle. Stark was ordered to drop the knife but he did not comply. When more officers arrived on scene, police broke a window and deployed pepper spray inside the vehicle and Stark was arrested without further incident.

Court also heard the details of Stark’s life prior to the incidents on Nov. 20, 2017. Stark is the youngest of three children, he became a miner after finishing high school and also worked as trucker until he lost his licence due to a driving incident, Milman said.

The death of Stark’s grandparents and his older brother, David, affected Stark deeply and he became depressed which led to a Stark attempting to self-medicate with hard drugs including crack cocaine.

Milman said Stark was “homeless and had not slept in days” when the incidents on Nov. 20, 2017 took place.

“(These) crimes were driven to feed an addiction,” Milman said.

While in custody, Stark wrote letters of apology to his victims.

His defense attorney Don Campbell asked for a sentence of seven to nine years.

After taking into account the time Stark has served in custody since he was arrested on Nov. 20, 2017, he has seven years and 209 days left behind bars. The sentence included a lifetime firearm prohibition and an order to pay $20,000 in restitution to one of the victims.

Stark was on probation when he committed the offences and has 24 previous convictions related to property crime.

Find past stories on John Stark here.

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