Banned driver on motorcycle jailed

A P.E.I. man who bought a motorcycle and was caught on it while he was banned from driving was sentenced recently to 90 days in jail.

John Franklin Perry, 49, appeared before Chief Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Charlottetown where he pleaded guilty to driving while prohibited and failing to attend court.

Crown attorney Gerald Quinn told the court that on Aug. 2, an RCMP officer on patrol saw a motorcycle with two people on it having trouble staying on the road.

Perry was in control of the motorcycle and was subject to a threeyear driving prohibition from 2017.

As Orr reviewed Perry’s record, she said she didn’t know if she had ever seen a worse record for driving infractions.

“I’ve seen some bad ones,” she said.

That record included multiple charges of driving while disqualified, along with four impaired driving-related charges and a conviction for failing to stop at the scene of an accident.

Perry has past convictions for driving with no licence, no registration, no insurance and no motor vehicle inspection.

He also owes more than $14,000 in unpaid fines.

Orr told Perry she had a simple question for him. “What’s it going to take to keep you off the road?”

The court heard Perry bought the motorcycle while he was banned from driving and he said he doesn’t have it anymore.

“I’m done making mistakes,” he said.

With the sentence, which Perry will serve on weekends, Orr said it was about a quarter of what a person in his circumstances would normally get so he can work and provide for his daughter.

Perry will be subject to a two-year driving prohibition.