Surveillance video at Woodgrove Centre captured Dustin Sean Williams. He stole thousands of dollars from a jeweler in the mall on April 10, 2019 (Nanaimo RCMP)

By Ian Holmes

desperate man

‘I was out of control:’ man sentenced for Qualicum Beach armed robbery

Jun 15, 2021 | 5:31 AM

NANAIMO — Fuelled by “every drug under the sun”, a Ladysmith man lost his mind after watching his life fall apart during a brazen 2019 crime spree.

Dustin Sean Williams stole a truck and robbed a Qualicum Beach convenience store at gunpoint, earning himself a 17 month non-custodial sentence recently handed down in BC Supreme Court in Nanaimo.

The 41-year-old Ladysmith man’s conditional sentence order includes strict house arrest for the next nine months for the June 2019 crimes.

On June 3, 2019, he stole a pickup in Ladysmith two days before the heist at the Qualicum Beach store on the Island Hwy. near Laburnum Rd. A masked Williams used a replica gun to obtain and flee with $400-500 from the store owner working the till.

Evidence from the crime was found in the stolen truck seized by RCMP at a Nanaimo motel later that night.

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Williams was arrested about a week later when RCMP used a search warrant at his home.

“The matter of obtaining the vehicle and the weapon, deciding on the general outline of the activity, selecting a target and gearing himself up to go into the store all speak to a degree of planning,” BC Supreme Court Justice James Williams said during his judgment.

The offender pleaded guilty to the two offences earlier in the week prior to being sentenced.

Williams previously served seven months in jail for stealing thousands of dollars worth of goods from a Woodgrove Centre jeweler in April 2019.

While Williams’ actions could have resulted in further jail time given his prior conviction, the judge said Williams took genuine rehabilitative steps while in jail.

“It is also a factor that this offence occurred at a point in his life when he was in a very distressed condition. His criminal record is not insignificant, but it does not suggest an individual with a deep commitment to a criminal lifestyle.”

Following the Friday June 11 judgment, Williams told NanaimoNewsNOW he was crushed by severe personal turmoil leading up to his crimes, including losing his children.

“I was absolutely devastated. At that point I didn’t want to live. It was all a cry for help.”

Williams said he was denied treatment at every turn and needed to be locked up.

“I knew I had to do something significant enough without hurting anybody to get the time I needed to recover myself. Once I realized what I did and what that length of sentence actually is, I was horrified.”

While Williams’ movements will be heavily restricted under house arrest, he will be able to continue working in the construction industry in Victoria.

Charges against Williams in relation to an armed robbery at a Jingle Pot Rd. liquor store were dropped by the Crown. The robbery happened several hours after the Qualicum Beach heist.

A mandatory 10 year firearms ban was applied to Williams, who was also ordered to provide a DNA sample and complete substance abuse counselling among several conditions.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes