Pubdate: Fri, 03 Feb 2006 Source: Vancouver Sun (CN BC) Copyright: 2006 The Vancouver Sun Contact: http://www.canada.com/vancouver/vancouversun/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/477 Author: Ian Mulgrew, Vancouver Sun Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/heroin.htm (Heroin) Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine) Judge Right to Label Repeat Offender a 'Parasite' She Says 'Drug Addiction Doesn't Excuse or Justify or Lessen That Description in Any Way' Let me introduce you to a man Provincial Court Judge Susan Antifaev thinks is a Port Coquitlam "parasite" -- 33-year-old Brian Christopher McNeil. A lot of folks will find it refreshing to hear a judge call a spade a spade -- or, in this case, a recalcitrant, small-time identity thief, a blood-sucking cancer on society. "I think it is appropriate to label you a regular offender and a 'parasite,' " Antifaev sternly scolded McNeil. "This is parasitic behaviour. Your drug addiction does not excuse or justify or lessen that description in any way." About the only thing the long-time loser had going for him, I guess, was that he pleaded guilty to the charges. He even had the misfortune of coming up for sentencing when the legal system is taking aim at such revolving-door, recidivist street crooks. They commit large numbers of offences, sap a wide-range of tremendously expensive public resources and appear impervious to rehabilitation. Police arrested McNeil April 20, only a few months after he had been released from his last prison stint. They found a homemade mailbox key secreted in his sock and, in his wallet, a phoney driver's licence doctored to bear his picture, and an alias. Although McNeil was on probation at the time, he nevertheless made bail. In October he was scooped again. This time, police found two forged mail keys, various pieces of other people's identification, stolen credit cards, financial documents and purloined mail, much of it from apartment buildings. McNeil had two driver's licences with his mug over different noms de plume. He had supporting ID documents such as health-care cards in those monikers, too. "People do not carry these things around for the fun of it and because it gives them some sort of a thrill," the judge said, looking askance at McNeil's threadbare explanation. "[T]he forged mail keys, together with the stolen identification and mail, I think, leads to an irresistible inference about how you got possession of some of these things." Like other offenders of his ilk, McNeil's criminal career was a product of, first, his heroin habit, which he claims to have beaten, and lately crystal meth, to which he has been hooked for the past four years. Back in December, 2003, he went to jail for six months -- his longest stint in prison. He came out clean, but was soon back on the main line. "I have read the letter from your wife, who is hopeful that you are going to be able to put these problems behind you and become a proper father to your son and a proper husband to her," Antifaev noted. But such hope can no longer be sustained -- McNeil has squandered umpteen chances to clean up his life and failed miserably. When placed on probation on nearly a dozen occasions, he ignored the court-imposed rules -- being convicted eight times of breaching those orders. McNeil got his proverbial second chance, as well as a third, fourth, fifth. . . . "The possession of the credit cards, possession of the identification, the alteration of the drivers' licences, not just once but twice on the last occasion, the possession of the forged Canada Post mail key are extremely serious offences," Antifaev said. "This is something that is in a different realm of behaviour from the guy who has a stolen [a] licence plate [tag] so that he can drive around without insurance. . . . "These are crimes that go to the root of how people live in our society. Unless these crimes are checked in a serious way, unless the courts and others deal very seriously with these types of offences, which frankly are identity-theft offences, it will lead to a weakening of the whole social fabric that we all rely on." Antifaev was unmoved by a plea to spare him from jail time because there was no violence involved. "I think you can recover from your addiction if you decide you are going to do it," she told McNeil. "I have hope that you can do that, but I am not prepared to gamble the safety of the community on that hope and on that faith, because frankly, it is not a strong one." McNeil has been in custody since his October arrest, so Antifaev deducted six months from the two-years' imprisonment she thought he deserved and ordered him held an additional 18 months. "While it is not impossible to believe that you can rehabilitate yourself," she added, "I think with every passing year the possibility is getting fainter and fainter. You are 33, which is not old, but frankly, in your case it is middle-aged. "Some people are young at 33. I do not see before me a young-looking 33-year-old man." She saw an aging parasite. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake