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Woman asks to go to jail to stop drinking Northern News Services Published Friday, February 18, 2011
Instead, Schmaltz fined the woman $1,600, banned her from driving for 18 months and imposed a one-year probation order. "You have a two-year old daughter. Think about her," Schmaltz told the 21-year-old woman in territorial court. The woman was also fined $100 for a breaking her probation when she failed to attend court on Jan. 11, 2011. The woman, who is currently unemployed, was given four months to pay or work off the fines. Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh said the Yellowknife RCMP stopped the woman while she was driving on Old Airport Road at around 3:10 a.m. on Nov. 6, 2010. The officer noticed she had the smell of alcohol on her breath and arrested her under the suspicion of driving drunk. At the RCMP detachment, the woman provided two breathalyzer samples, which registered at 180 and 170 milligrams of alcohol in 100 millilitres of blood. The legal limit is 80 milligrams. Walsh said it is "remarkable" the number of drunk driving cases that arise in territorial court on a monthly and yearly basis. In this case, Walsh said the woman took both her own life and the life of other drivers "in her own hands" when she drove that night. She requested that the offender be given a fine in the range of $1,200 to $1,400 and a driving ban of 12 to 14 months to send a strong message that drinking and driving is not to be tolerated in the city. Defence lawyer Stephen Shabala admitted his client's request for jail time to deal with her alcohol problem was "unusual." He added his client is in "dire" need of treatment and that she drinks alcohol every day. Rather than jail, Shabala asked Schmaltz to impose a probation order that included alcohol counselling. Schmaltz did so, telling the woman "you don't need to go to jail to quit drinking." The judge said programs can be arranged with the help of a probation officer, and recommended the woman check out an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting to see if it might work for her.
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