WESTLOCK – A woman who was on 24-hour house arrest has been sent to jail after she was convicted in Westlock Court of Justice on Nov. 6 of breaching her conditional sentence order (CSO).
She was serving a 15-month CSO after being convicted of flight from police and was required to be on 24-hour house arrest for the first nine months, court heard.
“It’s a jail sentence,” said Crown Prosecutor Eric Mosley, adding the accused was required to get approval from her probation officer to leave her home.
Defence lawyer Richard Forbes told the court she took her three-year-old daughter to the nearby park after her landlord informed her that he had a showing of the home to potential buyers and didn’t want her there at the time. An RCMP officer had confirmed this was correct, said Forbes.
Court heard that the Westlock RCMP had gone to her home for a curfew check at about 1:40 p.m. on Nov. 2 but she wasn’t there. About 20 minutes later they found her outside walking on a sidewalk with her toddler. The officer asked her for her permission letter to be outside of her home. When she told the officer that she didn’t have one, she was informed that she was in breach of her CSO.
“She shrugged her shoulders and walked away,” said Mosley.
Crown and defence agreed that the breach would result in a partial collapse of her CSO. They disagreed, however, on how much jail time she should be given.
Defence argued for two weeks, whereas the Crown has asked for a 60-day partial collapse. He said that her criminal record shows approximately 12 other breaches, demonstrating a pattern of non-compliance with the justice system.
Justice Carrie-Ann Downey sentenced the woman to 30 days in jail.
