If someone calls to suggest you commit a crime, Judge John Maher has a simple solution: “Just hang up.”
On June 19, 47-year-old Richard Auger was fined $455 after he pleaded guilty to breaching his probation after he approached a woman who, he said “Just keeps phoning me. Bothering me.”
Maher told the man, “Just hang up. That’s all you have to do.”
Crown prosecutor Marissa Tordoff told the Athabasca Provincial Court that Phyllis Nipshank, 48, called the RCMP to her house on Valentine’s Day of this year. When they arrived they found Auger.
At that point he had been on probation for nine months. One of the conditions was he must not have contact with Nipshank.
Bruce Lennon, Auger’s lawyer, told the judge that Nipshank had contacted his client and requested he come to her house. He asked that Auger be given a fine, and mentioned that he had struggled with alcohol issues throughout his life and was planning to enter a treatment facility.
The Crown asked for a 30-day sentence. “It’s Mr. Auger that’s bound by a court order, not Nipshank,” Tordoff said.
She added that there is a scale in terms of the severity of probation breaches, with no contact conditions being quite serious.
Maher said the fact Nipshank called Auger was significant.
A 19-year-old Athabasca woman was handed a five-day jail sentence for calling an ex-partner whom her common-law peace bond fobid her from contacting.
Chayla Bigstone pleaded guilty to disobeying a court order June 19 in Athabasca Provincial Court.
Crown prosecutor Marissa Tordoff said that on Drec. 28, Bigstone called Keenan Plamondon and asked him to come to her residence. Before that, she had also texted Plamondon.
“The facts are what they are,” Bigstone said. “I just want to move on.”
Bigstone’s lawyer, Peter Keys, noted that Bigstone has a child, took one year of general studies at Northern Lights College and is now looking for a job while working part-time in construction.
“She’s taking responsibility,” he said.
