Attacker seeks longer sentence for knifepoint rampage

A man with anger issues asked for forgiveness from the woman he traumatized last year when he pushed into her apartment and held a knife to her throat.

“I want to apologize for the fear I brought into that young lady,” Andrew Patrick Hill of Hamilton recently told Ontario Court.

“I'm sorry for what I did.” On Dec. 27, 2020, Hill and Brook Locey of Brantford went to the woman's Dalhousie Street apartment because Hill was convinced the woman had stolen his phone.

After threatening her and rummaging through her possessions, Hill told the woman she had two hours to think about where his phone was. If she couldn't locate the phone, it “wouldn't be nice,” he said.

Hill returned with a can of gasoline, threatening to tie up the woman and burn down her home. He forced the woman to remove the SIM card from her phone so she couldn't call police.

The two men gathered many of the woman's belongings into bags and put them on the sidewalk outside the home.

When police arrived, Hill told officers he was a drug dealer and had traded his victim's belongings for drugs.

Hill told Justice Colette Good that his behaviour stemmed from lessons learned over “years in custody.”

“I don't want to minimize what I did but they teach you (in jail) that if somebody takes something from you, what are they going to do next? Will they take more? Will they try to rape you? What will they do if you allow people to take things from you?”

Without the testimony of the witness, the Crown's case against Hill could have collapsed. Instead, through negotiations between the Crown and defence, Hill agreed to plead guilty to robbery and intimidation in return for a sentence of time served of 12 months, enhanced to 18 months.

“A part of the resolution is the fact (the victim) is not a co-operative Crown witness,” said assistant Crown attorney Alex Burns. “She's a reluctant witness and still afraid of Mr. Hill.”

The judge told Hill he's been involved in the criminal justice system long enough to know any offence of violence is going to net a significant jail sentence.

“But, to your credit, you pleaded guilty in the face of a weak Crown case because (the victim) didn't want to participate.

“Some might think this is not enough (time) but, the fact of the matter is, without the co-operation of (the victim), the Crown would have no case. That's the reason I'm accepting this joint submission.”

Hill told the judge he feels sad that his victim has been left with such fear.

“To know that she wouldn't even show up now – that hurts me because I'm still affecting her. She's scared and I did that to her for life and I have to live with that.”

Hill was returned to jail to get his belongings. Once out, he began an 18-month probation period that includes avoiding his victim and having no weapons for the rest of his life.

Locey was sentenced earlier this year to almost 18 months when a different judge warned the repeat offender he was “in the process of wasting” his life.