Man deported before sentencing for robbery

By Delon Shurtz - Lethbridge Herald on August 26, 2023.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A man who was set to be sentenced Thursday in Lethbridge court of justice on several criminal charges, has been thrown out of the country.
Ken William Kagwanja had pleaded guilty in April to two charges of robbery and single charges of shopbreaking to commit mischief and breaching release conditions, but the charges were struck Thursday in Lethbridge court of justice, after the judge was told Kagwanja had been picked up from the Lethbridge Correctional Centre and deported.
Kagwanja admitted during a court hearing on April 17, that he attempted to steal purses from two women earlier in the year. Sentencing was adjourned, however, to allow time for the preparation for a pre-sentence report.
Shortly after noon on Jan. 12 a woman was walking along 7 Street South downtown and had stopped to read a sign outside the historic Cleary House. Kagwanja grabbed her purse, pulling the woman to the ground, before he fled.
“The purse caught on her elbow…and she hung on and fell face down on the sidewalk,” Crown Prosecutor Lauren Atkinson explained. “The male kept pulling and tugging, dragging her approximately 20 feet. The male then ran away.”
The victim, who had open-heart surgery within the past year, managed to hang on to her purse, but after looking through it later with police, discovered she was missing her car keys. She sustained a knee injury, and a “potential” chest injury.
At about 11 a.m. the following day another woman called police to report a man had attempted to steal her purse the day before while she walked past a restaurant on 6 Street downtown. The man dragged her Down the alley, causing her to fall backward, before he fled. Kagwanja was identified through video surveillance pictures.
“She fell to the ground and landed on her left arm before being dragged on her bottom towards the alley,” Atkinson said.
Atkinson said the victim wouldn’t let go of her purse, and Kagwanja likely lost his grip on the purse strap because the pavement was icy.
At the time of the offences, Kagwanja was on release conditions that required him to reside at a residence in the 1100 block of 7 Street North. However, when police looked for him there, a man told them the suspect had moved out on Jan. 1.
The break-in and commit theft charge stems from an incident at about 4:20 a.m. on June 18 of last year when police received a report from a security company that multiple alarms were sounding at a business on 5 Street South downtown.
When police arrived they discovered the glass in the front door had been smashed, and numerous items in the store had been dragged out and scattered on the sidewalk. Merchandise and shelves in the store had also been damaged, and police found fresh blood on the doorframe where the suspect had been cut by broken glass.
Video surveillance footage showed two people breaking the window on the door, then entering the business where they caused significant damage before fleeing. One of the men returned several times, however, caused more damage and placed items on the sidewalk.
A few days later, at about 4 a.m., officers responded to an unrelated complaint at a lounge and saw a man who was wearing the same clothes as one of the suspects in the surveillance footage of the break-in, and identified him as Kagwanja.

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