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| Mentally Ill Man Gets His Wish - Comfort of Jail Cell |
| By Kingston Whig-Standard (Canada) |
| Published: 08/06/2003 |
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He got his wish - but had to terrorize a store clerk in order to get it. Ryan, a 38-year-old who has schizophrenia, was sentenced to three years in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to attempted robbery, possession of a weapon and breach of probation. The charges stem from July 4, when Ryan burst into the Morning Mart convenience store on Montreal Street, wielding a knife and demanding cash. But Ryan had an ulterior motive that night, said Bruce Gabriel, a lawyer who acted as counsel for Ryan when he showed up in court without a lawyer. 'He wanted to be incarcerated because he could not handle living in society,' Gabriel told Mr. Justice Rommel Masse. 'Mr. Ryan obviously finds the world a pretty difficult place to live in.' Ryan has a long history of assaults and robberies - three of which have taken place at Kingston convenience stores. Wearing a T-shirt and wrinkled grey pants, Ryan spoke to the judge from the glass-plated prisoner's box in barely audible, one-word whimpers. 'I don't understand why you would do this,' the judge said before sentencing Ryan and banning him from owning or possessing weapons for life. Jungho Baek can't understand, either. The owner of the Morning Mart told The Whig recently that he had no idea Ryan was using his store as a ticket back to prison when he scared the daylights out his female cashier in July. He thought Ryan was just another lowlife, willing to cross anyone in order to score an easy, illegal buck. 'I had no idea,' Baek said yesterday from his store. Ryan was scared off by customers before he took anything, but the damage to the clerk had been done, Baek said. 'She was terrified. She couldn't do anything. She just stood there.' Regardless of Ryan's intentions, whether he wanted the cash or an excuse to head back behind bars, Baek said he's happy the offender is off the street. But Gabriel isn't so satisfied. The lawyer said he left the courtroom with a heavy heart - saddened by another case of a mentally ill person with no options but crime. Too many people with mental illnesses are finding solitude in the dreary confines of jail, Gabriel said. 'It provides a regulated life for someone who has no aim.' If Ryan were more co-operative and hopeful, Gabriel could have ordered a psychological assessment for him. With more time and resources, Gabriel might have been able to prove he wasn't criminally responsible and get him sent to an institution that could properly treat his illness. But Ryan was adamant, the lawyer said. 'He wanted to go back and there was nothing I could say,' Gabriel said. |
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