ATHABASCA – A local man facing 20 charges from seven different incidents, pleaded guilty to two and received a three-week jail stay.
Appearing in Athabasca Court of Justice June 26 via CCTV from the Edmonton Remand Centre, Terrance Joseph Chalifoux pleaded guilty to two counts of failing to comply with undertaking conditions and received a 20-day jail sentence from Justice Jordan Stuffco, who had accepted a joint submission from defence lawyer David Keyes and Crown prosecutor Anthony Estephan. Additional counts of failing to comply, assault and shoplifting were withdrawn by the Crown.
Chalifoux, who had been in custody since May 13, used 13 of those days towards the sentence.
“This man has been in custody for over a month, so I’m going to waive the victim-fine surcharge for hardship,” said Justice Stuffco. “There’s no way to expect that he pay that right now.”
Chalifoux still faces seven additional counts of failing to comply with undertaking conditions, as well as single charges of shoplifting under $5,000, assault, uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, and mischief damage under $5,000 and is expected to be back in Athabasca Court of Justice July 10.
The facts
Estephan told court that at 6 p.m., Feb. 4, 2023, Athabasca RCMP observed a man dressed in black around 100 metres away from a residence.
Estephan said police believed the man to be Chalifoux, who they knew was prohibited from contacting the owner of the house.
When officers began to drive towards the man, Estephan said Chalifoux stepped onto another property in an attempt to evade them. He then went up to the house, knocked on the door, at which point the officers walked up and confirmed his identity.
Estephan also told court that on Jan. 18, 2023, Chalifoux was released on conditions to not be in contact with the same individual from the other incident. On March 14, 2023, at approximately 1:50 p.m., Chalifoux was observed by Athabasca RCMP driving on 53rd Avenue with that individual. RCMP followed the vehicle into the parking lot, and observed Chalifoux exiting the driver seat at which point he was placed under arrest for breaching his undertaking.
