A Provincial Court judge in Prince George sentenced a man on July 9 to a 90-day conditional sentence order to be served at his mother’s remote home near Driftwood.
Judge Cassandra Malfair acknowledged Peter Jr. Charlie, born in 1981, has a lengthy record with 77 convictions and 33 breaches of court orders. Malfair admitted she was “going a bit out on a limb” by assessing house arrest after being moved by his mother’s impromptu speech to the court about his difficult life in a family suffering the legacy of Indian residential schools.
Charlie pleaded guilty to breaching court orders, possessing a stolen iPhone and breaking a car window in the University Hospital of Northern BC parking lot in May. Malfair warned Charlie not to be disruptive around a hospital, because people who go there should feel safe and their belongings should be safe.
“If you breach and you come into town to get in with bad peers, getting into trouble or getting into drugs, you’re just going to end up back here,” Malfair told Charlie.
Court heard that Charlie’s mother, who described herself as a hereditary chief, has a history of cancer and heart problems. She pleaded with Malfair to be lenient, citing her son’s terminal homelessness, unemployment and upbringing in a household marred by violence and alcoholism.
“He's good, he listens, he does what I tell him,” the woman said. “Like I say, he’s learning how to do Indian medicine.”
She was not immediately leaving for Driftwood, so Malfair opted against automatically releasing Charlie. Instead, she ordered him to remain in custody until a July 11 hearing.
“The only way that this is not a risk to public safety, given your record, is if you're leaving to go into the bush,” Malfair said. “I’m not going to release you to go into Prince George.”
Malfair said Charlie can be within a 10 kilometre radius of his mother’s home between 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. daily. But, from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., he must be in the home.
“It's better than what was being proposed. You were looking at four months in custody, so just wait two more days, all right?” Malfair said to Charlie.
