Kristina Chernenko sat in the waiting area of the Scotiabank on Water Street for about 10 minutes the morning of Nov. 24, 2017, drinking a MadJack beer and contemplating robbing the place.
After telling a bank employee she had an appointment, Chernenko went to the washroom, took off her coat, pulled up her hood and put on a plain white mask. Holding a baseball-sized rock in one hand — and wearing a cast on the other, due to a vehicle accident — Chernenko went to the bank teller desk and attempted to kick open the security gate. When that didn't work, she leaned over it.
"Give me all of your money," she said to the clerk.
Chernenko then jumped over the gate and approached another employee, grabbing money from the drawer next to him before jumping back over the gate.
As the assistant manager yelled for staff to lock the doors, Chernenko tried to run through the main lobby and outside to a taxi, clutching the stolen money to her chest. She was caught by a bystander, who held her down as she kicked him in the shins and swore at him until police arrived and arrested her.
The stolen cash — $2,535 — was picked up by pedestrians and turned over to police officers.
"(I) just went in for the money," Chernenko told the officers, admitting to the robbery and saying she "had the motive to do it for a while." She told investigators she was broke and needed money because people were threatening to kill her.
"It felt good to me that I robbed a bank and people were picking up the money on the street," Chernenko told the officers. "I wanted that money."
Tuesday morning, close to a year after the robbery, Chernenko stood before a provincial court judge in shackles, having spent 342 days in custody and having received court-ordered treatment for schizophrenia, diagnosed four months after her arrest.
"I want to apologize for what I've done," she told Judge David Orr. "I wasn't in the right state of mind. I don't know what that money was for. Obviously my psychosis got the better of me."
Chernenko, 22, pleaded guilty to the robbery and having her face masked while committing the crime, as well as the theft of a curling iron from a hair salon in the Avalon Mall earlier that month. She also admitted guilt when it came to two Highway Traffic Act charges she earned last Oct. 31, when she took her father's taxi and crashed it into a pole on The Boulevard in St. John's.
Chernenko spent four months in custody before she was sent for a psychiatric assessment and diagnosed with schizophrenia. She was declared unfit for trial last May and was ordered into treatment, later being deemed fit.
Taking the stand at her sentencing hearing, Chernenko's father told the court Chernenko had been smart and studied hard as a child, winning gold medals in chess tournaments. Her mental health became an issue around the time she turned 16, he said, and once she turned 19 and became a legal adult, he was unable to get help for her without her compliance.
Since being treated for schizophrenia in jail, Chernenko's personality has completely changed for the better, her father said.
Chernenko's lawyer, Ken Hollett, argued for a sentence of time served, pointing out she has served more than 340 days on remand. He presented medical reports from Chernenko's forensic psychiatrist that indicated Chernenko was originally not compliant with the treatment, but has since been doing well. She participates in a number of counselling programs, Hollett said, and is working toward getting her high school diploma, with only a few credits left to complete.
"We submit that she was impacted by the schizophrenia during these offences," Hollett said. "We submit she is less culpable than someone who might have done these things in the right frame of mind.
"She was motivated by the schizophrenia. Now that it's been treated, the motivation is no longer there. She is well aware of the progress she has made and doesn't want to lose that."
Prosecutor Tannis King argued for a total jail sentence of 3 ½ years, as well as a $300 fine for the driving charges. She pointed out there was no confirmed link between Chernenko's mental-health issues and her crimes, and said Chernenko had planned the bank robbery and given police her reasons for it.
"That is no way indicative to us that she was in the throes of a psychotic break," King said.
King pointed to the psychiatrist's reports, which noted Chernenko's health has improved, but she doesn't appear to fully accept her diagnosis and is ambivalent about continuing her medication regime if released.
"That has to be a concern," King said.
Orr will render his sentencing decision Wednesday morning.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
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Woman charged with holding up St. John's bank with a rock appears in court
