(ADAM PROSKIW / iNFOnews.ca)

KELOWNA – A Kelowna man whose botched home invasion and robbery attempt left several people injured in 2015 was sentenced to four years in jail today.

Alexander Raymond Laramee, born in 1993, was in his early 20s on Nov. 21, 2015 when he and two others attempted to rob the occupants of a Verve apartment.

Defence lawyer Michael Stephenson said during sentencing submissions a man Laramee was afraid of had forced him to participate. He said he had no idea that the robbery would turn violent until his partner pulled out a hammer and smashed an aquarium. One of his accomplices fled the scene after a man who was in the apartment with the two women began to fight back. 

The second accomplice was arrested and sentenced to 90 days in jail, but the judge did not explain where or when they were arrested.

Crown lawyer Angela Ross said Laramee punched both of the female occupants of the apartment several times causing cuts and bruising to their faces. After his accomplice fled, Laramee was held until police arrived and arrested him.

Laramee was found guilty in June of breaking and entering, assault with a weapon, assault, disguising his face, unlawful confinement and resisting arrest.

“The attack on the victims… was prolonged and the motivation was greed,” Ross said today, Sept. 19.

Stephenson said his client, who has no criminal record, fell in with a bad crowd and is ashamed of his actions.

“This is someone feeling bad for what he did,” he said. “He was not aware of the hammer until it came out in the apartment.”

Ross asked for a global sentence of between seven and nine years, however Stephenson wanted a sentence of time served – approximately seven months – followed by a lengthy period of probation.

He said a longer sentence would “destroy his (client's) life” without making the community any safer.

“He simply followed along with what he was directed to do by the person he was fearful of,” Stephenson said.

Justice Heather MacNaughton sentenced him to four years in prison.

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