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.
Follow @DShurtzHerald on Twitter
17
“…At the time of the offences, Kagwanja was on release conditions…”
More evidence that our judicial and penal systems are broken and that the feds still have done nothing to fix them! Both these senior women tried to hang on to there valuables, ID, money in their purses and were lucky they were not injured further. Losing your ID alone is costly and time consuming, but it is not worth losing your life over, yet 2 seniors in just 2 days were desparate in saving their purses in the downtown within a block of each other.
These are not the only attacks downtown, but somehow they managed to reach the media! Less than 1% of the crimes downtown are ever reported in the news and by less than 1% I mean a fraction of that 1%.
If people knew, they would support more police, as we currently sit short by over 15 members to bring us up to per capita national standards.
The criminals and those making money from this crisis don’t want that though! Some of the non-profits would no longer have the gravy train that pays their high wages, as they continue to enable addicts to slowly kill themselves on our streets, while committing crimes like this to support their addictions!
Tell these two seniors again how safe it is downtown!
I laugh when I hear Calgary and other city police state there is no concern to to public because the shooting was a targeted event! Really ??
So those bullets, fired from criminals without weapons training or rules of engagement, from the illegal guns won’t hit any innocent bystanders?
Bullets don’t discriminate when they are fired from guns! They kill, or injure whoever is the bullets trajectory!
I have seen a big change this year on the streets downtown compared to the last 4 years and know it is from all of the hard work the city and police have done, ignoring the policies that destroyed BC and changing the way we deal with this crisis. Firm policing, the encampment strategy, and several other programs have helped and the relationship with the Blood Tribe Health taking over the shelter, the overdose prevention site trailer at the shelter, new their mobile medical team for wound care/first aid, and even Alvin Mills camp in Standoff have all been positive!
I will give credit when it is due, but I will not stop our push to end the crisis on our streets and the senseless deaths. Too many people have died needlessly by following the failed harm reduction models and too many people have been impacted by the crimes related to this crisis.
I applaud those who have worked hard to end this and ignored the false accusations and even attacks by other politicians and academics who made this crisis political and would not admit harm reduction is a failure!
Thanks for telling it like it is,not like those in denial want the city residents to believe. City is on the same path of providing services in town rather than out of town and away or isolated/ protected from drug dealers etc. , so it will just get worse. But not for academics/ Sunset acre types who can just go to the odd meeting and or drop off blankets and then back to their protected acreages.
News item should cite on what grounds in the Immigration Act this person was deported. Educational to all who read it.