Guilty pleas, sentencing on Sunshine Coast Canadian Tire break in

Lukas James Kenworthy, 25, pled guilty to five charges in BC provincial court in Sechelt July 19. Those included counts of break and enter and wilfully resisting or obstructing a peace officer in relation to an April 16 incident involving the local Canadian Tire store. The other guilty pleas related to breaching bail as well as charges of theft and resisting arrest in an incident in Nanaimo on June 2.

He will serve no additional time in jail, as he had been detained for 48 days following his arrest on Vancouver Island. As pre-sentencing time is credited at 1.5 days per day served and the sentences handed down by Hon. Judge Joanne Challenger, ordered to be served concurrently, totalled less than 72 days.

Incident details

Crown counsel Joseph Zondervan told the court three RCMP officers responded to a silent alarm from the ts’ukw’um (Wilson Creek) Canadian Tire location at approximately 3:30 a.m. April 16 to find a breached store entry door with a large television box and a shopping cart loaded with merchandise outside. An officer spotted Kenworthy on foot in the area and called out for him to stop. A chase ensued, followed by a struggle between the officer and the accused before Kenworthy was safely arrested. A search of his person yielded “a shopping list” of items that were likely targets of the attempted robbery.

Zondervan stated that recorded store video surveillance showed three individuals involved in the the break in at the store. The other two persons were never identified or arrested.

According to the Crown, Kenworthy was released on bail, but breached his bail conditions and was detained June 2 in Nanaimo by a loss prevention officer at the Thrifty Foods grocery at Port Place shopping centre. On that occasion, he left that store without paying for a basket of goods valued at $439.75. The items were recovered by the staff member. The police were called and when they arrived, Kenworthy repeatedly provided a false name to the officers. His identity and the fact that he was on bail for the earlier property crime in Sechelt were discovered after he was taken to the detachment.

Sentencing considerations and other charges

In his submission to the court, defence counsel Darcy Lawrence chronicled Kenworthy’s troubled history with illicit drugs, which he said began with abuse of crack cocaine at age 17 and for the past two years has involved addiction to opioids. He stated his client, who was raised and attended up to secondary school in Sechelt, is seeking to secure addictions treatment, either in Nanaimo or in Maple Ridge where he has family members living.

Stating “safe supply is a fantasy," Challenger told Kenworthy his recovery is “in his hands." Calling the situation related to opioids in the province “tragic," she stated that with addictions treatment, Kenworthy, who she pointed out has a pre-school-aged son, could “have a life." She waived the victim surcharge in relation to the counts heard.

Kenworthy has also been charged with possession of a weapon, assault with a weapon and assault causing bodily harm for an incident in Sechelt in early 2023. He is slated to appear in court on those charges on July 30. A protective order barring his contact with the assault victim remains in place.