BOYLE – An area man who piloted a stolen pickup truck up to 130 km/h through the streets and highways around Grassland in May 2022, received a four-month jail sentence.
Appearing in Boyle Provincial Court Feb. 14 via CCTV from the Fort Saskatchewan Correctional Centre, Dominic Carl Duane Beaver pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, while two counts of possession of stolen property and a single charge of driving a motor vehicle while unauthorized were withdrawn by Crown prosecutor Ashlee Kirby — separate charges of possession of stolen property against co-accused Karlyn Mickala Zielke were also withdrawn.
Judge Gordon Putnam agreed to a joint-sentence submission from Kirby and defence lawyer Olusegun Kaffo on a 120-day sentence for Beaver, time deemed served as he’s already been behind bars for 117 days.
Kirby said that although dangerous driving sentences start at 30 days, Beaver’s “lengthy” criminal record with past dangerous driving convictions warranted the additional time. Kaffo, who noted Beaver has other court matters, said this guilty plea “allows him to deal with this, bearing in mind also that he is remorseful of this incident.”
“This is a proper and fit sentence given the gravity and nature of this,” Kaffo added.
Kirby told court that on May 19, 2022, Boyle RCMP were alerted to the theft of a truck and a witness told them “the vehicle was driving very erratically and swerving in and out traffic near a school” and estimated the speed of the vehicle at 130 km/h — Boyle RCMP have confirmed the location was Grassland.
Kirby said the witness followed until the vehicle went down a dead-end road and a passenger fled on foot. When the witness tried to close a gate, the driver attempted to run him over and Kirby said Beaver was found by police two kilometres from the vehicle “hiding in a nook behind a tree.”
