Guilty pleas entered for pair of armed bank robberies & assault of local mother by Nanaimo man

The teller gave him some cash in a bag that also contained a tracking device in it.

Badger then used a cab to go back to a house on Pine St., where he was staying with the woman who is the focus of the assault charge.

Later on in the day, police were called to the CIBC branch at Country Club Centre, where Badger once again pulled out what appeared to be a silver handgun and a note demanding $80,000 in cash.

The teller provided him with $400 in bait money which is used in these situations to track suspects.

Badger once again left in a taxi and headed to the Pine St. address, using the bait money to pay the driver.

After setting up surveillance on the home, a search warrant was executed the following day and Badger was arrested.

Inside the home, they found the silver handgun which turned out to be a pellet gun, along with the bank notes from the CIBC robbery and clothing worn during the two incidents.

Court learned Badger was under the influence of alcohol and methamphetamine at the time of the robberies.

The assault and uttering threats charges come from an incident on March 10 of the same year, where Badger was accused of knocking a woman down a flight of stairs, as well as choking her with both hands.

Court learned Badger was also under the influence for those incidents.

Through Badger’s Gladue report, Crown prosecutor Sabrina Avery spoke about how both of his parents were alcoholics who fought regularly and violently, with money being spent on alcohol instead of food.

Both of his grandparents and his father attended residential schools, saying Badger suffers from intense intergenerational trauma as a result.

He left home around the age of 12 and has been on his own ever since, spending some time in the foster care system.

The first child he had was taken away from him and put up for adoption, and currently has no contact with Badger.

The mother of his first child overdosed and died a few years after.

Badger currently has two kids with the partner he assaulted and lost a third child in 2014 at an early age due to sudden infant death syndrome.

Defence attorney Tom Spettigue said Badger began drinking heavily after this incident and hasn’t stopped since.

An alcoholic since he was 18, Badger has contracted cirrhosis of the liver and has been told by doctors if he continues to drink it will end his life.

The Crown asked for a sentence of four years for each count of robbery and six months for the assault charge to be served concurrently, which equals 54 months.

Badger has been in custody since the arrest, serving 492 days, equating to 740 days, or nearly 25 months, of time served.

He would have about 29 months left to serve if Judge Rose Raven agrees with Crown’s proposal.

Badger’s defence requested two years for each of the robbery charges and a month for the assault, totalling 49 months, along with a probation period including multiple restrictions.

Badger’s criminal history dates back to 2009 and includes robbery, breach of conditions, and theft under $5,000 in 2009 and 2016.

Badger will return to court on Dec. 30 for sentencing.

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by Jordan Davidson

Guilty pleas entered for pair of armed bank robberies & assault of local mother by Nanaimo man

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