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From Globe and Mail
Lovers went on criminal rampage, jury hears
By GRAEME SMITH
Globe and Mail Update
Brandon — A pair of lovers dreamed of an idyllic life on Canada’s East Coast, a jury heard Monday, but their journey to the ocean turned into a nightmare of car thefts, arsons, burglaries and ultimately a cold-blooded murder.
That’s the sad and chilling story that Crown prosecutor Bob Morrison told a court in Brandon in his opening arguments against two young people accused of killing an RCMP officer.
To understand why Constable Dennis Strongquill was hunted down and blasted four times with a sawed-off shotgun at close range on Dec. 21, 2001, Mr. Morrison said, it’s necessary to explain why the lovers began the criminal rampage that took them across three Prairie provinces in the 10 days before the shooting.
The tale starts when Robert Marlo Sand, now 23, was released on parole in Edmonton in late November of that year and began to help an old girlfriend, Laurie Ann Bell, now 20, to kick her addiction to hard drugs.
They wanted to run away from their troubles and get married, Mr. Morrison said. She skipped a court date in early December and he missed an appointment with a parole officer, and they decided to leave town together.
“They literally had a vision of an idyllic life by the sea,†Mr. Morrison said, adding later: “They were very much in love and desperate to be far away.â€
But neither of them had much money or any means of transportation. So they started stealing trucks, with the help of Mr. Sand’s brother Danny.
Over the next several days they stole six vehicles, often abandoning them quickly or switching the licence plates in hopes of avoiding detection, and set three of them on fire.
They paid a brief visit to Ms. Bell’s family, though most of their stops were to gather supplies: They robbed homes for jewelry and guns, and even attempted a botched bank robbery.
As the days passed they grew more determined that nothing should stop them from escaping, Mr. Morrison said. Shortly before the fatal shooting, he said, Mr. Sand wrote a journal entry that showed he was ready to kill.
“ ‘I woke up in a motel with a beautiful woman beside me and a rifle and shotgun close,’“ Mr. Morrison said, reading from the journal. “ ‘I felt really good.’ “ The entry described how they had robbed thousands of dollars from a bank in a small Saskatchewan town on Dec. 18 only to have a dye pack explode and ruin the money. Mr. Sands wrote that he’d been too “nice†to the teller and suggested that he would adopt a “new approach.â€
“ ‘We’ve got so much firepower now, if a cop pulls us over he’ll be one sorry [person],’†Mr. Morrison read.
Shortly afterwards, on Dec. 21, the two lovers and Mr. Sand’s brother were driving one of their stolen half-ton trucks along the highway near Russell, Man., just after midnight when they rolled through a stop sign and failed to lower their high beams for an oncoming police cruiser.
The RCMP officers, Constable Strongquill and Constable Brian Auger were on their way back to the local detachment for a coffee break but noticed the sloppy driving and decided to stop the truck.
But when the truck pulled over, Mr. Morrison said, Mr. Sands got out and started firing shotgun blasts at the cruiser. The officers weren’t hurt but they drove away quickly, calling for help over the radio as the truck pursued them and continued to shoot at them.
The chase ended outside the Russell RCMP detachment. Both vehicles plowed through a ditch and the truck rammed into the cruiser’s passenger side, pinning Constable Strongquill.
Mr. Sand got out of the truck and aimed his gun at the struggling officer from just a few metres away, Mr. Morrison said, and Ms. Bell urged him on by yelling, “Kill him, kill him.â€
Four shotgun blasts ended the officer’s life, as he struggled with the bullet clip that had fallen out of his pistol.
“Constable Strongquill was wildly twisting and thrashing about as he tried escape a fate that he could not avoid,†Mr. Morrison said.
The three young people escaped but were arrested after a 14-hour manhunt. Mr. Sand’s brother Danny was fatally shot in the head by police as he brandished a high-powered rifle on the roof of the motel where they were eventually arrested.
The case that Mr. Morrison presented to the jury was not yet backed by evidence and could not yet be challenged by the defence. The trial is expected to last 10 weeks.
Lovers went on criminal rampage, jury hears
By GRAEME SMITH
Globe and Mail Update
Brandon — A pair of lovers dreamed of an idyllic life on Canada’s East Coast, a jury heard Monday, but their journey to the ocean turned into a nightmare of car thefts, arsons, burglaries and ultimately a cold-blooded murder.
That’s the sad and chilling story that Crown prosecutor Bob Morrison told a court in Brandon in his opening arguments against two young people accused of killing an RCMP officer.
To understand why Constable Dennis Strongquill was hunted down and blasted four times with a sawed-off shotgun at close range on Dec. 21, 2001, Mr. Morrison said, it’s necessary to explain why the lovers began the criminal rampage that took them across three Prairie provinces in the 10 days before the shooting.
The tale starts when Robert Marlo Sand, now 23, was released on parole in Edmonton in late November of that year and began to help an old girlfriend, Laurie Ann Bell, now 20, to kick her addiction to hard drugs.
They wanted to run away from their troubles and get married, Mr. Morrison said. She skipped a court date in early December and he missed an appointment with a parole officer, and they decided to leave town together.
“They literally had a vision of an idyllic life by the sea,†Mr. Morrison said, adding later: “They were very much in love and desperate to be far away.â€
But neither of them had much money or any means of transportation. So they started stealing trucks, with the help of Mr. Sand’s brother Danny.
Over the next several days they stole six vehicles, often abandoning them quickly or switching the licence plates in hopes of avoiding detection, and set three of them on fire.
They paid a brief visit to Ms. Bell’s family, though most of their stops were to gather supplies: They robbed homes for jewelry and guns, and even attempted a botched bank robbery.
As the days passed they grew more determined that nothing should stop them from escaping, Mr. Morrison said. Shortly before the fatal shooting, he said, Mr. Sand wrote a journal entry that showed he was ready to kill.
“ ‘I woke up in a motel with a beautiful woman beside me and a rifle and shotgun close,’“ Mr. Morrison said, reading from the journal. “ ‘I felt really good.’ “ The entry described how they had robbed thousands of dollars from a bank in a small Saskatchewan town on Dec. 18 only to have a dye pack explode and ruin the money. Mr. Sands wrote that he’d been too “nice†to the teller and suggested that he would adopt a “new approach.â€
“ ‘We’ve got so much firepower now, if a cop pulls us over he’ll be one sorry [person],’†Mr. Morrison read.
Shortly afterwards, on Dec. 21, the two lovers and Mr. Sand’s brother were driving one of their stolen half-ton trucks along the highway near Russell, Man., just after midnight when they rolled through a stop sign and failed to lower their high beams for an oncoming police cruiser.
The RCMP officers, Constable Strongquill and Constable Brian Auger were on their way back to the local detachment for a coffee break but noticed the sloppy driving and decided to stop the truck.
But when the truck pulled over, Mr. Morrison said, Mr. Sands got out and started firing shotgun blasts at the cruiser. The officers weren’t hurt but they drove away quickly, calling for help over the radio as the truck pursued them and continued to shoot at them.
The chase ended outside the Russell RCMP detachment. Both vehicles plowed through a ditch and the truck rammed into the cruiser’s passenger side, pinning Constable Strongquill.
Mr. Sand got out of the truck and aimed his gun at the struggling officer from just a few metres away, Mr. Morrison said, and Ms. Bell urged him on by yelling, “Kill him, kill him.â€
Four shotgun blasts ended the officer’s life, as he struggled with the bullet clip that had fallen out of his pistol.
“Constable Strongquill was wildly twisting and thrashing about as he tried escape a fate that he could not avoid,†Mr. Morrison said.
The three young people escaped but were arrested after a 14-hour manhunt. Mr. Sand’s brother Danny was fatally shot in the head by police as he brandished a high-powered rifle on the roof of the motel where they were eventually arrested.
The case that Mr. Morrison presented to the jury was not yet backed by evidence and could not yet be challenged by the defence. The trial is expected to last 10 weeks.
