A man who stabbed a pharmacist during an armed robbery has received a sentence totalling 12 years, a court judgement handed down last week (October 6) has revealed.
According to a sentencing document from Belfast Crown Court, Anthony McCrea, 39, targeted a number of businesses in Belfast while armed with weapons between January and March 2022.
It said that McCrea pleaded guilty to a number of counts, including wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm, criminal damage, possession of an offensive weapon and attempted theft.
His sentence comprises nine years in custody followed by a three-year extended licence period.
Pharmacist stabbed
The court heard that on March 5, 2022, McCrea entered Teague’s Pharmacy on Antrim Road and asked for a prescription under the name James Watson.
As Covid precautions were still in place at the time, the pharmacy had an over-counter screen with a door to allow staff to enter and exit.
The pharmacist present locked the door due to being “alarmed by the nature of the clothing worn” by McCrea and told him that there was “no prescription under the name given”, the court document said.
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McCrea then “became agitated”, kicked the door and smashed the screen with a hammer, it added.
The pharmacist “defended himself [by] punching out” at McCrea, who was forcing himself through the broken screen, and managed to grab the hammer from McCrea.
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It was then that McCrea produced a knife and stabbed the pharmacist in the hand, the court heard, with the injury requiring paper stitches, dressing, strapping and antibiotics.
Two days later, police stopped a “vehicle of interest” and McCrea was found in the passenger seat with two knives “located in the front pocket of his jacket”.
“Appalling record”
McCrea’s sentencing concerned the Teague’s Pharmacy incident as well as two others - the armed robbery of a Winemark store in January 2022, and the attempted armed robbery of Greencastle Pharmacy in February of the same year.
The court heard that McCrea has an “appalling record” - of his 82 previous convictions, 38 are for “robbery and violent offending” - and that he “has been offending since 13 years old”.
Judge Catherine Chasemore acknowledged that McCrea had a “difficult childhood” and has “diagnoses of psychiatric disorders which directly link to his offending”.
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She also recognised that he had pleaded guilty “not at arraignment but prior to trial”.
However, she noted McCrea’s “previous convictions and pattern of offending”, and that he had “targeted small shop premises” and used weapons during the offences.
“Although I have not been provided with victim impact statements, the court notes that the victims must have been terrified by what the defendant put them through,” she added.
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The judge concluded that while McCrea “poses a significant risk of serious harm to the public”, a life sentence was not justified in this case.
Instead, an extended sentence would be “adequate” to protect the public, “giving time for offence-focused work and mental health interventions, to reduce the defendant’s risk in the future”, she said.
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It comes after the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) in August released new survey findings revealing that 87% of pharmacies have “seen an increase in aggressive and intimidating behaviour toward pharmacy teams in the last year”.
Of the “around 500 pharmacies” surveyed, 22% said they had “even seen physical assaults on staff” in the same period and 88% reported “a surge in incidents of shoplifting”.
The NPA “condemned the abuse of hard-working pharmacy staff and urged the police to do more to deter shoplifters”.
