Man acquitted of Yellowknife Circle K robbery after video evidence ruled inadmissible

Devon Larabie has been acquitted in the 2020 robbery of a Yellowknife convenience store, despite video evidence and a witness who was at the scene moments before and after the incident.

Footage from the security camera at the store showing a robbery at knifepoint from different angles was found to be inadmissible by Judge Donovan Molloy in N.W.T. Territorial Criminal Court in Yellowknife Friday. 

On Thursday Brendan Green, the Crown prosecutor, showed four different surveillance footage clips from March 17, 2020 at the Circle K that show the robbery from different angles. The footage, obtained by the RCMP from the store, doesn't contain any audio. 

The footage shows a man walking into the store wearing a black face covering and a black baseball cap with orange writing on it. There are a few interactions between the man with the face covering and the store clerk. Eventually the man with the face covering pulls out a knife, and steals cash and two packs of cigarettes. 

Three RCMP officers testified on Thursday that a long black kitchen knife, a black neck warmer and two packs of opened cigarettes were seized from Larabie's apartment during a search later that day.

Judge found witness unreliable

Despite the video and police testimony, Molloy, at points getting visibly annoyed, said Green hadn't provided enough evidence to prove the video was authentic. 

Green argued the various angles of the robbery show the legitimacy of the video. 

"That all of those angles have somehow been fabricated is fanciful," Green said. 

Molloy said the authenticity of the video is completely hinged on one of the witnesses, Larabie's former co-accused Maiya Klengenberg who testified on Thursday.

Klengenberg identified herself as a woman wearing a pink jacket seen in the surveillance video. She left the store before the robbery, but she identified the man robbing the store as Larabie.

After the robbery, Klengenberg said she and Larabie returned to his apartment and he told her "he robbed them with a steak knife or some kind of knife."

But Molloy found her testimony to be insufficient as she said she was drunk at the time of the incident. Additionally she left the store nine seconds before the robbery.

"Klengenberg was an extremely weak witness," Molloy told the court. 

On Thursday Molloy questioned Green as to why the clerk who was robbed was not testifying. 

Green told the court that the clerk had moved to Edmonton and was no longer returning his calls. 

Molloy said he had questions about how the clerk had downloaded the video that were unable to be answered. 

As a result of this and what he deemed to be unreliable testimony from Klengenberg, Molloy found the video inadmissible. 

Green said the only possible outcome was to submit a not guilty verdict, which Molloy accepted.

Larabie appeared at court in person but remains in custody on a separate matter.

He has been charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of  22-year-old Breanna Menacho. He is currently in custody at the North Slave Correctional Centre awaiting trial on that charge.

Larabie is scheduled to appear in court for this on Sept. 26.