Man chooses time in jail over paying fines

Faced with $3,700 in overdue court-imposed fines, a Penticton man asked Monday to spend 42 days behind bars in order to be relieved of his financial burden.

William John Hill, 48, will serve the time after completing 30 days in jail for driving with a suspended licence and 14 days for failing to appear in court.

His criminal record, dating back to 2009, contains prior convictions for assault, drug possession and impaired driving, all of which attracted fines and surcharges.

“Once upon a time, he made his living as an equipment operator. He was licensed to drive and operate crane trucks, cement trucks. He was good at what he did,” defence counsel James Pennington told the court.

“Then he got involved in an accident that caused injuries to his neck and spinal cord, and was no longer fit to operate that type of equipment, and that’s when things just started spiraling out of control.”

Hill said outside court he was caught in a Catch-22 situation: without a driver’s licence he was unable to get to work and therefore unable to pay his fines. He asked to go to jail in order to wipe his slate clean.

“I’m not quite sure how this has been allowed to get that far in unpaid fines,” said Judge Greg Koturbash, before agreeing to the request.

The 42-day sentence was calculated according to a formula in the Criminal Code that equates the jail term to the number of eight-hour days of work paid at minimum wage that would have been required to settle the debt.

Some provinces and cities allow debtors to work off their fines through community service, but that option doesn’t exist in B.C.