HUNTSVILLE - A Huntsville man will spend the next six months in jail after pleading guilty to two driving offences.
Kendrick A. Frank, 32, was found guilty of impaired driving and operating a motor vehicle with a suspended licence.
According to evidence presented to the court by Crown attorney Jon Fuller, a friend of the accused borrowed a truck from Frank to move a bed.
Frank and the man began drinking and in the process of moving the bed to a Brunel area residence, became embroiled in an argument.
Frank then got into the truck and left the scene.
As he was leaving he was spotted by an OPP patrol. He was stopped and during the police investigation, produced a health card as identification.
It was revealed then that Frank had his licence suspended from a prior conviction.
Breathalyzer readings taken at the Huntsville OPP Detachment indicated readings of 107 and 99 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood in Frank’s system. The legal limit is 80 milligrams.
The court was told that Frank had prior drunk-driving convictions, including charges in 2008 and this past February, where he was given a three-year driving suspension.
“The aggravating fact in this case is that message hasn’t sunk in,” Fuller told the court.
The Crown said that in order to protect the public, the court should impose a sentence of a total of 180 days for the two sentences, with a further five year driving prohibition for the drunk driving offence and two additional years for the driving disqualified charge.
Lawyer Peter Ward, who represented Frank, said that it was not his client’s intention to drive that day. He said that after the two men got into the argument, Frank was stranded at the residence, so he decided he would drive his truck.
In his defence, Frank told the court that he knows he has a problem with alcohol and that since he is about to become a father, he wants to get his life in order.
Judge JD Evans agreed with the 180 day sentence, but made the two driving prohibitions of five and two years a concurrent sentence.