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24 Hours Vancouver
By Tyler Orton
Monday, June 10, 2013
A Stanley Cup rioter on trial for violating her probation admitted lying to police at a road check about her alcohol consumption because an anxiety attack left her “frantic” to retrieve medication.
Camille Cacnio, who gained notoriety for stealing ill-fitting pants during the riot and then blogging she didn’t deserve so much public backlash, testified in court Monday she was diagnosed with depression and anxiety about a week after the June 2011 mayhem.
The 24-year-old is the only rioter to receive a suspended sentence — meaning no jail or house arrest — for her actions.
She was arrested at a police roadblock in January when she was caught driving after her court-imposed curfew.
The University of B.C. grad testified she hadn’t been taking her prescribed anti-depressants for about a week prior to the incident in attempt to wean herself off the meds.
Her boyfriend, Rob Duhamel, testified the couple had a small argument at a Yaletown restaurant, where Cacnio admitted to drinking two margaritas, before she began crying uncontrollably.
Duhamel told the court he couldn’t deal with his girlfriend behaving this way and insisted they drive to her cousin’s Burnaby apartment, where she left her anti-depressants over the holidays.
“She always feels like everyone is out to get her,” he said. “There would be episodes when she would snap.”
Cacnio told the court she had been hospitalized twice before for anxiety attacks and has had “suicidal thoughts” since the riot. She admitted it was a “bad judgment call” to try to fetch her medication from her cousin instead of going to a hospital.
She added it was a “bad decision” to lie to police about her alcohol consumption, but she was not in the right state of mind during her anxiety attack.
The accused’s mother left the left the courthouse with a bag over her head, while Duhamel cursed at reporters upon his departure.
Cacnio told the court she now lives at home and collects income assistance since she can’t find work due to publicity from the riot.