Drug addiction will not hold as an excuse to commit crimes, Chief Justice Richard Ground said on Friday.

Speaking during the sentencing of two admitted drug addicts who committed an armed robbery, Mr. Justice Ground said: "Addiction to drugs does not excuse a person ... These gentlemen were to blame."

Jamahl Smith and Dale Angelo Wilson both pleaded guilty to a robbery which took place on Valentine's Day of this year.

Wilson also pleaded guilty to possession of a machete at that time.

Around 8.45 p.m. that day the manager of Elroy's Laundromat was alone in the laundromat folding laundry when the two men, wearing scarves and hoods, walked in.

Wilson, 33, pulled a rusty machete from inside his clothes which he pointed at her, while Smith, 28, went into the office, where he stole $140 in quarters.

Both men, who were known to the complainant, were arrested days later and made full confessions to the Police.

"This incident has caused me to feel afraid," the complainant said in her victim impact statement. "Everyone looks suspicious to me now."

She had one message for the defendants: "Don't make your problem my problem".

An antecedents officer told the court both men had been co-operative and gave full details of the incident. Though neither man had a spotless record, Mr. Justice Ground noted neither had offended seriously or in recent years.

Defence attorney Elizabeth Christopher said the men deserved credit for their swift and full co-operation with Police and the judicial system, noting the men, without legal counsel, had managed to bring the matter to the point of sentencing within a mere three months.

Both defendants apologised to the complainant and their own families, with Wilson emphasising his daughter. "I really am sorry," he told the court.

Though maintaining drug addiction is not "in any way" mitigation of a sentence, Mr. Justice Ground said a "constructive sentence" ? such as one allowing the men early parole if they complete certain drug programmes in prison ? was an option.

"I think your guilt in this offence was equal," he told the men. "You were in it together."

He sentenced the pair to four years of immediate custody, with time already served to be taken into consideration. "This must have been a terrifying experience for a lone woman in a shop as night fell."