Judge giving serial offender 1 last chance

Anthony Donavin Werden pleaded guilty to 3 counts of driving while disqualified and 1 count of flight from police

The same judge who once described Anthony Donavin Werden as a “menace in our community” now believes the 26-year-old Penticton man has seen the light.

“I fully anticipated you’d be coming into my courtroom and you would end up crying, and I would end up telling you to park your crocodile tears back in cells and you should probably be nominated for an Emmy Award,” Judge Greg Koturbash told him Monday following guilty pleas to four driving offences.

But “today’s a bit different,” the judge continued, “and I actually think that the tears are real and you’ve been sincere today, so I’m prepared to give you a chance.”

Werden admitted to three counts of driving while disqualified and one count of flight from police, and was sentenced to 113 days’ time served, plus a one-year conditional sentence to be served in the community.

Those conditions include attending counselling and drug treatment as directed by his sentence supervisor and abiding by a 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew. If he slips up, he could be sent to jail to finish his term behind bars.

At the time of his latest arrest on May 30, Werden was barely a third of the way through a three-year driving prohibition handed down by Koturbash in February 2016 after he pleaded guilty to dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, flight from police and driving while disqualified in connection with an incident in downtown Penticton.

“In my opinion, you’re incorrigible and have demonstrated to this court that you are a menace in our community,” the judge at that time told Werden, who also picked up a six-month jail term to go along with the 39 prior convictions on his criminal record then.

Koturbash heard Monday, however, that Werden is getting help for his addictions to drugs and alcohol, has made arrangements to attend trade school, and intends to help his fiance raise their young son.

“I’ve made a lot of changes in my life and I want to keep moving forward,” Werden told the court near the end of a tearful 10-minute speech.

The judge agreed that would be the best course of action for everyone involved.

“I appreciate that a lot of members of the public aren’t going to understand why I’m giving you that chance, but I am relying heavily on your probation officers’ recommendations here,” said Koturbash.

“Often the best way that we as judges can protect the public is by seeing the offender rehabilitated.”

Court heard Werden’s most recent string of charges arose on April 22, when a police officer watched him pull away from a home on Winnipeg Street in a vehicle that was missing its rear window and licence plate, plus had a taillight out.

The same officer spotted Werden driving again on May 22 and gave chase, but called off the pursuit after Werden tried to lose the Mountie in a car lot.

The officer managed to catch up to him again on May 30, however, when he spotted Werden backing a car out of a driveway on Paris Street.

Crown counsel Andrew Vandersluys had been seeking a sentence of time served plus 120 days’ new jail time, while defence counsel Nelson Selamaj countered with a suggestion of time served.