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Liquor store robber imprisoned

liquor store was yesterday jailed for four years.Dwayne Doars, 26, of North Shore Road, Pembroke was imprisoned by Puisne Judge Richard Ground for stealing from Devonshire Liquor Store and for a range of cheque forgeries.

liquor store was yesterday jailed for four years.

Dwayne Doars, 26, of North Shore Road, Pembroke was imprisoned by Puisne Judge Richard Ground for stealing from Devonshire Liquor Store and for a range of cheque forgeries.

Yesterday, Crown counsel Leighton Rochester told Mr. Justice Ground that Doars and another man entered Devonshire Liquors around 4.30 on August 20, wearing crash helmets.

They approached a cooler and returned with a bottle of Alize and a Guinness Stout beer and presented a $50 bill to the owner.

When Mary Fox, the owner of the store opened the cash register, Doars jumped on the counter and grabbed $96. But he was stopped from getting more by Mrs.

Fox's very large Rottweiler, Jenny.

Mr. Rochester said the other man attempted to get to the cash register, but was also thwarted by the dog.

The two men then fled on a black Peugeot cycle.

The court also heard that sometime between August 7 and 20, 1997 Doars stole a black, Wheels Ltd. Peugeot livery cycle and was seen by Police and members of the public riding it.

Police arrested Doars on August 21 on the cycle, worth $2,000, outside his home.

While in custody, he refused to make a statement according to Mr. Rochester.

Earlier this year, Doars, who said yesterday that he was trying to break his cocaine addiction, pleaded guilty to stealing $96 from Devonshire Liquors on August 20 last year.

The court also heard that Doars stole a blank cheque from his employer -- Samuel Benevides Alves -- and forged and cashed it for $2,500 at the Bank of Butterfield.

Mr. Rochester said there was "forensic evidence'' linking Doars to the cheque.

Last October, Doars was convicted on eight cheque offences including two counts of stealing which involved two of forgery, two of uttering, and two of false pretences.

But Acting Magistrate Wilhelm Bourne ordered Doars to be sentenced in the Supreme Court because of the amount of money -- more than $2,000 -- involved in the charges.

Doars stole one cheque from Juliette Tolbert, forged it for $1,800, and tried to cash it at the Bank of Butterfield on October 1, 1996. He also stole a cheque from Carlos Garcia between December 30 and 31, 1996, and filled it out for $430.

But Doars told Mr. Justice Ground yesterday that he was under financial pressure after being released from prison for lawyer's fees which still have not been paid completely.

"I've also been in denial about my drug habit,'' Doars said. "That's basically why I've been stealing. To support my drug habit.'' He also told Mr. Justice Ground he had been taking cocaine since he was 15-years-old but since his recent attempts for help, his family had rallied around him.

"They were there before,'' Doars said. "But now they've been helping me because I finally see that I was addicted.'' "I've had seven and a half months to think about it (while on remand at Westgate),'' he added. "I want to put an end to all this craziness.

"I want to apologise to everyone involved and to the courts.'' Mr. Justice Ground activated a three-month suspended prison sentence, sentenced Doars to three years in prison for stealing from Devonshire Liquors, and nine months for stealing the cycle from Wheels Ltd. The sentences are consecutive.

Doars was also sentenced to three two-year prison terms for the cheque forging and uttering offences. Those sentences are to be served concurrently to the above prison terms.

"For that liquor store theft you came very close,'' Mr. Justice Ground told Doars. "Right to the edge.''