Man jailed for robbing dying cancer victim

File Photo / NZ Herald

An armed man who held up a woman dying of cancer for her pain-killing medication was today jailed for five years and four months.

The crown asked Judge Raoul Neave in Christchurch District Court for a sentence of four years for Scott Henry Ilton, a 34-year-old self employed panel beater.

But the judge refused to accept the suggestion telling Ilton: "You robbed a dying woman, for God's sake."

The woman was a vulnerable cancer patient, and Ilton burst into her house with a pellet gun and manhandled her and her son, he said.

Ilton admitted four assault charges, two breaches of bail, a breach of community work, and one armed robbery.

Judge Neave said at a family function Ilton argued with his sister and her partner, and punched him in the head. He grabbed his sister by the throat and when his father intervened grabbed him by the neck.

He was yelling and punching, and they couldn't stop him, he said.

The aggression and anger continued when police arrived and he punched a police officer, who had recently returned to work after someone else had assaulted him.

While on bail for these assaults he rode to the cancer victim's address on a bike. He had a pellet gun and a bandanna and walked in the unlocked door of the house.

He placed the gun to the woman's head and asked her where her drugs were. When her son approached he pushed them into a bedroom, took the prescription medication and left.

Judge Neave said it was a crime fuelled by a horrendous addiction to drugs. It was uttterly terrifying to the victims, although the risk factor was not great.

He said the victim impact statement said the woman was still upset, living in fear, and too scared to leave the house by herself.

Defence counsel Serina Bailey said Ilton's offences were getting more serious and she hoped he would take steps to change his life when he left prison.

Ilton's pre-sentence report said he was at a high risk of re-offending until his addictions had been addressed.

- NZPA