A 53-year-old man was sentenced to three years in federal jail on Thursday (Aug. 24) for his role in two 2017 robberies, including one where an Oak Bay woman was attacked with a machete.
Christopher Sloan Standell’s sentence, which also includes a lifetime firearm ban, reflected his limited role in one incident and calls for restraint in a subsequent robbery as the court recognized his co-accused in both cases were responsible for the brunt of the harm caused.
Standell was sentenced for one count of robbery for his involvement in an incident at a Victoria jewelry store on July 19, 2017. He entered the downtown store and drew a crowbar as his accomplice wielded a loaded handgun and a piece of wood.
Standell scooped jewelry into a dufflebag from the displays as his partner held a gun to one of the store’s employees’ head and threatened to kill the woman if she didn’t open the cases holding the valuables, according to an agreed-upon statement of facts. Standell asked his co-accused what he was doing and why he had the gun in the first place.
Lawyers for the Crown and defence said Standell was calm during the robbery while his accomplice was agitated, struck a victim in the face with the gun and ran around the store banging on cases with the firearm. Standell also told the man to leave the woman alone.
Both fled the store on foot before leaving on a motorcycle. A total of 66 items worth $235,000 were stolen. The statement of facts concluded the other man planned the robbery and Standell was promised drugs and more for his role. While that didn’t pan out, he pocketed some of the jewelry and traded it for drugs.
“He wasn’t the main actor, he didn’t plan the robbery, he didn’t have a firearm, he did not make any threats,” the Crown lawyer told the court. “It appears, from the facts, that he was trying to moderate the conduct of his co-offender.”
A victim of the Victoria robbery wrote to the court that the frightening event left her physically and emotionally impacted.
The court heard Standell became addicted to drugs when he was 18 after his father died. He’s spent much of his adult life on the streets and his criminal past, which dates back to 1998, relates to property offences linked to supporting his addiction. The 53-year-old’s defence lawyer noted the criminal past has also included gaps that align with Stadell’s sobriety, including the period between his most recent offence in 2020 and now.
Standell was given one year in jail, to be served concurrently with the other three, for what the court called his limited role in the Oak Bay robbery on April 25, 2017. In that case, a man named Kaspar Handspiker picked up Standell in Langford before the two drove to Oak Bay, where Handspiker said he was going to steal from some cars. Standell stayed in the car to smoke drugs while his co-accused went off, with a machete in hand.
Handspiker eventually entered a home where Nermeen Alireza was alone and housesitting for her parents. As Handspiker picked up the woman’s purse in the kitchen, Alireza awoke to noises and investigated before telling the intruder to leave. During a struggle over the purse, Handspiker struck the woman several times with the machete, causing her to need surgery after she suffered significant injuries to an arm and hand.
Standell was sentenced for being an accessory after the fact to a break and enter and robbery in the Oak Bay incident. That was due to allowing Handspiker to use his phone to make a call and how he returned the borrowed vehicle used by the two men to leave the scene of the attack.
Standell plead guilty to the charges against him in both robberies in January of this year. His lawyer said he is remorseful, he takes full responsibility for his actions and it’s likely Standell could miss the passing of his mother, who has a terminal medical condition, during his jail time.
“Despite his record, he has a moral compass that’s intact,” Standell’s lawyer said.
Handspiker was arrested in the Maple Ridge area on Jan. 15. He’s charged with aggravated assault, break and enter, and robbery in relation to the Oak Bay event.
Handspiker remains in custody and his case is scheduled to return to the court on Jan. 8, 2024, for a preliminary inquiry.
With files from Christine van Reeuwyk
READ: 2 men charged in 2017 vicious machete attack, robbery in Oak Bay
