Off to jail

Man’s mental health no excuse for breaking the law, says judge

David Paul Dicks tried to explain the reason he drove his car while disqualified this past spring was because it kept his mental state in check.

Judge Wayne Gorman said it was no excuse for breaking the law and sentenced Dicks to a week in jail Tuesday morning for violating the order of the court.

Dicks was convicted of impaired driving in January. Part of his sentence was a 15-month driving prohibition.

On May 23, an RCMP officer on patrol in Massey Drive who was familiar with Dicks pulled him over and arrested him.

Dicks entered a guilty plea to the offence when the matter was called in provincial court in Corner Brook Tuesday morning. Representing himself, he told Gorman that he has obsessivecompulsive disorder and that he gets sick if he stays still for too long. He said the only reason he drove his car that day was to avoid feeling ill.

The court also heard that the police had suspected Dicks was driving regularly while disqualified from doing so.

Dicks told Gorman it wasn’t right for the police to watch him until he got in his car and started driving. He felt the arresting officer should have went up to him and warned him he would be charged if he got in his car and drove on the day he was arrested.

Gorman told Dicks the onus was on him to not drive and he must deal with the consequences.

The judge also told Dicks he was lucky to only get seven days in prison as court order breaches regularly fetch such offenders 30 days in jail.

In addition to being incarcerated, Dicks was given another year of not being permitted to drive. That prohibition will not commence until the 15-month driving ban he got in January ends in April 2017.