Car thief spared trip to a federal penitentiary

Injuring a pair of Calgary seniors trying to stop him from stealing their car won’t mean federal prison for a city crook.

And while not blaming the couple for their attempts to stop the theft, provincial court Judge John Bascom suggested it’s best to rely on the police in such a situation.

“By their actions in preventing him, they put themselves in danger,” Bascom said Wednesday, in accepting a submission by defence lawyer Rebecca Snukal to keep Dylan Althenhofen out of a penitentiary.

“I certainly don’t blame them … (but) call the police rather than putting yourself in danger.”

Bascom handed Althenhofen the maximum provincial jail sentence of two years less a day, followed by probation.

“The period of probation is very appealing to me,” the judge said.

Under the Criminal Code, probation can’t be added to a sentence of more than two years.

Althenhofen had earlier pleaded guilty to six offences, including robbery and dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

At the offender’s March 1 guilty plea, Crown prosecutor Darren Maloney said Althenhofen approached victim David Irons, 68, who had just parked his car in the parking lot of the Co-op Home Health store on 26th Avenue N.E., around 2:20 p.m. Jan. 6.

Althenhofen grabbed the car keys from Irons’ right jacket pocket and jumped into the vehicle.

But as Irons and a passerby tried to stop him, the offender backed up into another car, with Irons being carried with him.

“Mr. Irons was thrown to the ground and struck his head,” Maloney said.

The man’s wife, Jane, also 68, attempted to intervene as well, but ended up getting her legs caught in the open door, suffering a broken left leg and two broken bones in her ankle.

Althenhofen then fled at a high rate of speed and wasn’t arrested until he pulled into a residence in the city’s deep southwest after crashing into two other cars and being followed by the HAWCS helicopter.

Bascom said there were several aggravating factors to consider, including the fact Althenhofen sped from the scene after injuring the couple and had a history of stealing cars.

The judge noted in April 2015, the offender was sentenced for the theft of a motor vehicle.

“There we have him starting his occupation of stealing motor vehicles,” Bascom said.

But he said Althenhofen, who is Metis, had a “very difficult upbringing ” and came from a “dysfunctional family.”

“It appears Mr. Althenhofen’s upbringing consisted of moving around, being on his own at an early age, being homeless.”