Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Hay River (Oct 24/05) - A lifetime driving ban against a Hay River man has been overturned on appeal.

The ban was part of a sentence handed down May 24, after Raymond Patrick Arnault, 55, pleaded guilty to impaired driving. It was his 10th impaired driving conviction.

Michelle Staszuk: Shocked by lifetime driving ban originally laid on her client.

The sentence was imposed in Hay River Territorial Court by Deputy-Judge T.C. Smith.

According to court information, a breathalyzer test found him to have a blood alcohol level between .190 and .200.

"It was a shock. It was unusual to see a lifetime driving prohibition," said Arnault's lawyer, Michelle Staszuk. She appealed to the NWT Supreme Court and, on Sept. 29, Justice Virginia Schuler reduced the driving prohibition to three years.

Staszuk says a three-year ban is in the range of previous NWT sentences for cases with similar circumstances.

The lawyer noted Arnault had previous driving prohibitions, but the longest was 18 months.

Plus, she noted, there was no injury or property damage as a result of the offence, which occurred in February. Staszuk says Schuler gave no written reason for her decision.

However, she says the judge found the lifetime ban to be excessive in the circumstances.

"The Crown only asked for three years at sentencing," Staszuk notes. The lawyer also said Schuler found Arnault should have been given some credit for pleading guilty.

Arnault declined to comment and deferred questions to his lawyer. Staszuk says there may have been lifetime driving bans in the NWT in the past, but she was unable to find any record of one. The longest ban she could find was 15 years.

In Territorial Court, Arnault was also sentenced to six months imprisonment and three years probation.

"We did not appeal that," Staszuk said.

Arnault's record of driving convictions includes impaired driving, dangerous driving and driving while disqualified.