Man sentenced to time served

Committing a series of criminal offences, including slashing a man with a fork in 2017, has earned a 25-year-old Lethbridge man a jail sentence of nearly one year.

Donaldson Steven Paksi was sentenced to 345 days in jail after he pleaded guilty this week in Lethbridge provincial court to charges of assault with a weapon, break and enter, possession of stolen property under $5,000, theft under $5,000, possession of identity documents, breach of recognizance, breach of probation and failing to attend court.

Court was told a Lethbridge resident was getting in his vehicle about 6:45 a.m. July 17, 2017 when Paksi, who was walking nearby, began yelling at him. The two exchanged words and they began fighting. Paksi then took a fork from his backpack and swung it at the man, scratching his chest.

The rest of Paksi’s charges stem from incidents in 2018, including a break-in May 23 in which Paksi entered a home and was caught by the homeowner with a bag of items he had taken from the home. Also in his possession were identity documents belonging to someone else, and on another occasion he was caught with business cheques from to Quest Support Services, which had been issued to someone else and had been reported stolen.

The theft charge relates to an incident April 17 of last year when Paksi attempted to leave a grocery store without paying for a jar of peanut butter.

Paksi has a record of previous criminal convictions, but Calgary lawyer Robin McIntyre pointed out there are gaps in the record, during which Paksi was receiving treatment for drug addiction. He relapsed, McIntyre added, but while he was in custody following his arrest on the recent charges, he enrolled in anger management and addictions recovery.

Although he received a jail sentence, Paksi was given full credit for time he spent in custody waiting to resolve his matters, allowing him to be released from custody. He will be on probation for 18 month, however, during which he will be under a nightly curfew and he must comply with several other conditions, including he be assessed and receive counselling for substance abuse, and abstain from taking any controlled drugs that aren’t prescribed.

“Mr. Paksi knows what the problem is,” McIntyre told court.

Paksi was also ordered to provide a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Databank.