Thursday, December 21, 2006

A Truro woman was in such despair over her gambling addiction that she
robbed an Amherst bank in September hoping police would shoot her dead. "I
thought death was my only option," a sobbing Margaret Alice Baldwin said
Tuesday in Amherst provincial court before Judge Carole Beaton sentenced her
to 59 months in prison for robbing the Scotiabank branch on South Albion
Street of $100,000. Ms. Baldwin, 61, also received a concurrent 12-month
sentence for having a weapon - bear spray - during the robbery. The court
was told the robbery was the second time Ms. Baldwin had attempted "suicide
by cops." In 1999, she robbed a takeout restaurant in Miramichi, N.B., of
$540 hoping that she would be killed. She was sentenced to three years for
that robbery. Ms. Baldwin told the court she spent 25 years in the military
as a nurse before a neck injury ended her career. After her medical
discharge, she had a tough time adjusting to civilian life.
"Little did I suspect on Oct. 19, 1994, when I used that first VLT for some
social gambling, that I was doomed to spiral to the depths of hell," she
told the court.
"I lost $600,000. I've lost my dream home, my car. I lost my values, my
self-respect and my family. I became a piece of garbage." She attempted
suicide by hanging and by crashing her car. Ms. Baldwin said she tried to
get help for her gambling addiction on an outpatient basis but it didn't
work. After she was released from prison after the Miramichi robbery, she
entered an in-patient program at a Toronto clinic and was treated
successfully. But she couldn't afford to continue with the clinic's
outpatient rehab program and fell back into gambling after moving back to
the Maritimes. By last August, she had hit bottom and figured the only way
out of her desperate situation was to return to the Ontario clinic. She said
she asked for financial help from the Nova Scotia government but was
refused. "That put me into a full-blown crisis," she said. "I decided the
only way to stop it was to stage another robbery. I thought if they (police)
wouldn't shoot me for $540, they might shoot me if I stole $100,000." Ms.
Baldwin entered the Amherst bank on Sept. 5 and asked to see manager Maria
Campbell. Once inside Ms. Campbell's office, Ms. Baldwin produced a
handwritten note demanding $100,000 in unmarked, untraceable bills and
warned that she had a bomb strapped to her waist that accomplices in the
parking lot could set off. She was wearing a black veil covering her face
and white sport socks on her hands.

Police arrested her within minutes after she left the bank and recovered all
the money.

"It must have been scary for the people in the bank, but it was not my
intention to scare or harm people," Ms. Baldwin said, dabbing at tears. "I
only wanted to die.

"I hope Ms. Campbell can forgive me, not for my sake, but for hers. She
needs to get on with her life and not think of me."