Gang trouble used to land Subarmani Krishna in jail.
These days it’s a troubled heart and a weakness for drugs that has put the 34-year-old back behind bars.
“I apologize for what I do…I’m trying to change in a world I don’t know,” Krishna told Judge Thomas Dohm on Monday.
Krishna appeared by video in Campbell River provincial court where he pleaded guilty to break and enter, uttering threats, and breaching a no-contact order.
He’s presently in custody at the Vancouver Island Regional Correctional Centre in Victoria where he’s been since his arrest on July 10.
On that day Krishna went to the home of his former girlfriend, a woman he still loves, but is under court order to not contact her. Six days earlier, he had made a court application to vary the no-contact order, but a hearing had not been held when he showed up at her home on July 10.
According to Crown prosecutor Adrienne Venturini, the woman asked Krishna to leave because she believed he was high on drugs. In the past, Krishna had been addicted to crack cocaine, but recently he was doing better and working as a cook.
However, when Krishna showed up high and threatened to harm himself with a knife, she asked him to leave, which he did, but then he broke back into her home through an open window.
The woman told him police were on the way and refused Krishna’s pleas to hide him. She wound up going to a neighbour’s home and when RCMP arrived, they found Krishna still in her home, hiding in a closet.
As officers led Krishna to the police cruiser, he became increasingly agitated and threatened a friend of his former girlfriend’s. According to the police report, Krishna shouted, “They can’t keep me in jail, I’ll kill you.”
But Krishna was held in custody because he’s currently on an 18-month probation order. At Monday’s court appearance, he pleaded guilty to the three charges and said he’s trying to change, but getting help is difficult.
Krishna told the court he’s spent a good part of his life in jail. He grew up in Vancouver and was a gang member in his teens.
He left the city for Campbell River in an effort to turn his life around and did well for eight years, until 2011 when he started getting in trouble again due to drug use.
Judge Dohm said Krishna can do well given the opportunity, but also noted that he has a “difficult criminal history.” Krishna was sentenced to seven months jail and given one year of probation.
As part of his probation, Krishna agreed to enter into residential drug treatment. He was also ordered to provide a DNA sample to the national police registry.