Cape Breton man sentenced to prison for assaulting woman with box cutter, robbing liquor store with bear spray

A Cape Breton man who assaulted a woman with a box cutter and used bear spray to rob a liquor store has been sentenced to more than three years in prison.

Lucas Justin Ronald Roach, 20, of Sydney Mines, was convicted of 20 offences that took place over two-and-a-half years, and included multiple assaults with weapons and assaults involving the same female victim.

He pleaded guilty to assaulting the woman twice with a knife and once with a box cutter, as well as two charges of assault, two counts of assault by strangulation, one count of mischief for damaging a window screen, and four counts uttering threats against her and a male relative from Dec. 1, 2023, to Oct. 29, 2025.

Roach also admitted to breaching his release conditions five times between Aug. 25, 2025, and May 13, 2026. Three of the breaches were for not following a court order against consuming alcohol or other intoxicating substance, while two were for failing to appear in court.

His most recent convictions stemmed from a June 4, 2026, incident in which he robbed the Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. store in New Waterford using a can of bear spray.

He subsequently pleaded guilty to robbery, assault with a weapon, theft under $5,000, and two counts of breaching his court-ordered curfew and a weapons ban.

Roach was recently sentenced in Sydney provincial court to serve 1,268 days in custody after being credited with 192 days he has already spent in pre-trial custody.

The sentencing judge also ordered him to provide a biological sample to the national DNA registry and banned him from owning possessing firearms for 10 years.

The judge also issued a no-contact order involving the female victim and her male relative.