Armed robbery sentence pending for young woman

A St. John's judge is expected to bring down a sentence next week on how long a young woman will be jailed for charges that include an armed robbery outside a bank.

Camille Strickland-Murphy, 19, dressed in her brother's clothes and held a knife to a woman's throat, threatening to kill her unless she handed over money. The robbery took place at an automated banking machine in Churchill Square.

An agreed statement of facts presented to the court says that Strickland-Murphy on another occasion forged a prescription and also stole a car.

At a sentencing hearing in St. John's provincial court on Wednesday, the defence and Crown argued over whether a surveillance video of the Churchill Square robbery should be released.

Defence lawyer Peter Ralph said releasing that video to the media would harm his client's health in the future.

Psychiatrist Nizar Ladha testified that Strickland-Murphy suffers from a number of mental illnesses and has since she was a child. These include social anxiety disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Ladha, who said her illness contributed to the crimes, said a public release of the video could make it go viral on the internet, producing a "lasting and drastic" effect on her health.

Ralph asked that the video be sealed.

But Crown prosecutor Bill Cadigan said that while releasing the video is potentially embarrassing to the accused and her family, it is not prejudicial to her case.

Cadigan noted that the courts and police release surviellance video routinely.

A lawyer for CBC News said the application to suppress the video was akin to trying to put in a publication ban through the back door, and that it was without grounds.

Judge Pamela Goulding said she would take the weekend to consider the arguments.

She is scheduled to deliver her decision on Tuesday afternoon.