Court Briefs
Man fined for not having caribou tags
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, April 25 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A 48-year-old Yellowknife man was fined $750 April 15 for shooting three caribou in Wekweeti when he did not have proper tags to do so.
According to an agreed statement of facts read at territorial court, the man, who is a Tlicho beneficiary, would have been allowed to hunt the caribou had he acquired tags.
Roger Shepard, prosecuting for the territorial government, said the tags are available and free to Tlicho persons in the Wekweeti area. There are only 150 of them issued to Tlicho people each year, as the government is trying to repopulate the caribou in the area, Shepard added.
Shepard said wildlife officers came upon the "caribou kill site" on March 26, 2013 and questioned three individuals there. The accused admitted he'd shot the caribou, but officers found he did not have any tags.
The man told officers he was allowed to hunt the caribou in the area because of his Treaty 8 rights.
Upon hearing this, Chief Judge Robert Gorin questioned whether Treaty 8 boundaries extended up to Wekweeti, wondering if the accused meant Treaty 11. Shepard told the court either way, the accused put a "valuable and future resource at risk."
The meat from the three caribou was seized and donated to the needy in Yellowknife, Shepard said.
The man's lawyer said his client is remorseful, and regretted not getting the required tags.
Gorin imposed the $750 fine as suggested by Shepard, adding a 15 per cent victims of crime surcharge of $112.50.
Driver nearly three times the limit
A 37-year-old man was fined $2,500 after he was caught driving the Ingraham Trail with nearly three times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood.
According to an agreed statement of facts, RCMP were alerted when someone called, to complain of a possible impaired driver coming out of the Prelude Lake area Feb. 22. The driver appeared intoxicated and his vehicle was damaged, the courts heard.
RCMP caught up with the man as he was driving toward them on the Ingraham Trail bypass road. The man was co-operative with RCMP and gave them a sample of his breath. The driver had .22 per cent alcohol in his blood, nearly three times the legal limit of .08 per cent.
Judge Robert Gorin fined the man $2,500, noting the man's "aggravating" level of intoxication.
Gorin also banned the man from driving for one year and imposed a mandatory victims of crime surcharge on the fine, which brought the man's total up to $3,250.
Drunk driver destroys bus shelter
An 18-year-old man was fined $1,400, banned from driving for a year and ordered to pay back more than $4,000 in damages when he crashed his truck into a bus shelter in Yellowknife earlier this year.
On April 15, Crown prosecutor Kindra Lakusta told the courts the man had nearly twice the legal limit of alcohol in his blood at the time.
According to an agreed statement of facts, police saw the man swerve past them on Franklin Avenue Feb. 15, crossing the centre line.
When RCMP caught up to him, they found the man's Ford F-150 crashed into a bus shelter in front of Mac's convenience store and gas bar.
The city estimates he caused $4,391 in damage to the shelter.
Chief Judge Robert Gorin emphasized how things could have turned out much worse in the dangerous crash, especially if pedestrians had been involved.
In addition to his driving prohibition and fine, Gorin placed the man on probation for a year, during which he'll have to make monthly payments of $400 toward the damage he caused. He also imposed a victims of crime surcharge (30 per cent of any fine) equalling $420.
In total, the 18-year-old will need to pay $6,211 for his crime.
