October 19, 2014 - 5:50 PM
KAMLOOPS, B.C. - A Kamloops man who criminally harassed his former girlfriend and her family will remain banished from the city as part of his probation.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Dev Dley declined an appeal by Shane Adam to have his banishment from Kamloops, B.C., declared unconstitutional.
Adam’s lawyer, Thompson Rivers University law professor Micah Rankin, argued unsuccessfully that banishment of an offender from his community violates the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
Adam was sentenced in provincial court last year to a prison term of slightly more than four months, followed by a two-year probation term that included banishment from Kamloops.
"The sentencing judge chose not to imprison Mr. Adams for a lengthy term," Dley wrote.
"Instead, the judge addressed community safety by tying it to Mr. Adam’s rehabilitation. If Mr. Adam took no steps to rehabilitate himself, then community safety could only be served by his absence from Kamloops for the two-year term. However, it was open for Mr. Adam to return to Kamloops if he was able to show the court that he had taken the necessary steps to reduce his risk to the community."
Adam, 24, has amassed a record for breaches of court orders, harassment, assault and uttering threats. He has lived most of his life in the B.C. Interior city.
He threatened to shoot his former girlfriend’s father, as well as police officers who arrested him.
Dley said the banishment is necessary to protect the public, particularly Adam’s former girlfriend’s family. Her father is a bus driver whose job takes him across the community.
"Kamloops is not such a large city that banishment from the entire city can be said to be unreasonable or over broad," Dley ruled. (Kamloops This Week)
News from © The Canadian Press, 2014