TRURO, N.S. – A Truro man charged with armed robbery at a convenience store has been ordered to undergo a 30-day mental-health assessment to determine whether he is criminally responsible.
Martin 'Cory' Michael Brown, 31, of Alice Street is to return to provincial court in Truro on Aug. 13 to enter a plea to a charge of stealing $155 from a convenience store while armed with an offensive weapon (pepper spray).
He is also charged with taking a motor vehicle without consent.
A news release from the Colchester District RCMP said Brown was arrested Thursday evening (July 12) following an investigation of the robbery.
Just before 1 p.m. on June 26, the RCMP responded to a panic alarm at a convenience store on East Prince Street.
The release said a lone male, whose face was painted black, entered the store wearing a hoodie, sun glasses and blue pants. The man told two female employees to hand him money from the cash register and that he had pepper spray, which he then shot a burst of into the air.
A store clerk handed him a sum of money and the robber then ran east on East Prince Street, turned onto Birch Street and left the area in a vehicle.
There were no customers in the store at the time of the incident and the two employees were not hurt. RCMP Police Dog Services attended and searched the area but the suspect was not located.
The same vehicle had been seen in the area shortly before the robbery. The suspect arrived at the store approximately 10 minutes before the robbery and appeared to have waited outside the store for customers to leave, police said.
Members of Colchester District RCMP, with assistance from RCMP Forensic Identification Section participated in the investigation.
Brown, who appeared briefly in court on Friday, has been remanded into the East Coast Forensic Hospital in Dartmouth until his next scheduled appearance.
