Editor: I just finished reading your front page story (The Times, March 2) regarding the inquest into the death of a criminal named Frank Frechette. It left me wondering if we don鈥檛 have a cumulative issue in this province with how we perceive victims.

So let me briefly summarize the circumstances of this man鈥檚 life. He chose to try heroin and cocaine. He apparently spent time in jail for this already.

He then chose to start using drugs again after going through therapy of some type. He chose to have children and use drugs while his then-partner was expecting their second child. He then leaves this partner for a home care worker (who also has children) and further endangers them by using drugs around them.

At some point, he decides that he will rob a  Royal Bank with a shotgun. After realizing that he is going to be caught, he stabs himself, jumps through a window and then resists officers trying to take him into custody. After being ordered to stop and refusing he is Tasered. He then dies.

The picture with the article shows him around family smiling. Would you care to run any pictures of him shaking and trying to score heroin or cocaine?

Would you care to run a picture from the security video of him pointing a shotgun at the tellers at the Brookswood Royal Bank? Would you care to run a picture of him passed out after a night of cocaine and heroin use? Would you care to run a picture of him doing all the crappy things that addicts do to other people in order to satisfy their own desires?

Why are the RCMP being vilified here? Would it have been better for the police officer to have shot him? Why are the victims at the Brookswood Royal Bank not mentioned more than in passing? Does anyone think they will recover quickly from being traumatized at gun point?

Why are these children who this criminal affected not represented? Where did the idea that a dirt bag like this should be pitied because of the poor choices he has made come from? Because we as a society put up with criminals enjoying more privileges than the average law-abiding citizen.

Can someone please do an article on this criminal, in a counterpoint to this article? Better yet, forget about the inquest into the Tasering and rename the article.

Now this headline might not fit very well but here it is: 鈥淐riminal dies due to stupidity, self-induced stabbing, poor life choices and society that treated him like a child.鈥� Let鈥檚 pull our collective heads out of the sand and start stating what criminals are. They鈥檙e just criminals.

If this letter ever sees the light of day, I鈥檓 sure there will be many who write in to say that this guy was a victim of his circumstance. They will say he was abused or mistreated in his youth and that is why he did the things he did. I can tell them from experience that not everyone who gets kicked around in life makes the terrible choices this guy did.

Brent Robinson,

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Editor鈥檚 note 鈥� The photo the writer refers to was the only one supplied to the media by the coroner.