After pleading guilty to possession of a prohibited weapon and failing to appear, a Ponoka man was sentenced to a 18-month probation at Ponoka provincial court on Friday, March 27.
On June 3, 2014, Earl Chalifaux (18) got into a verbal argument at his father’s residence in Medicine Hat.
The Crown told the court, at the time of the incident, Chalifaux threatened to cut his father’s throat because God told him to. He picked up a knife and the father left the residence to call the police.
Upon arrest, it was decided mental health issues were at play and he was taken to a psychiatric ward. The incident occurred two days before Chalifaux’s 18th birthday.
Now living with his mother, Chalifaux is under the care of medical health services and on medication.
The court was told the father was not looking to press charges but the police felt it was necessary.
“I remember the knife and I remember getting mad but I couldn’t put a reason to it,” Chalifaux told the court, who was battling a drug addiction at the time of the incident.
He added the medication has helped him control his anxieties and his aggression.
Chalifaux’s probation includes not carrying a weapon save culinary work situations, community service, no contact with the father, a $200 fine and not possessing firearms, crossbows, prohibited weapons or ammunition for five years.
Chalifaux has no previous criminal record.
Impaired driver sentenced
A man pled guilty to driving while disqualified and driving over .08; consequently he received a $3,000 fine and a three-year driving prohibition.
On Dec. 6, 2014 Ponoka RCMP patrol pulled over a suspicious vehicle and upon reaching the front windows the officer smelled alcohol on the breath of the driver, Henry Schmidt.
Schmidt provided a breathalyser test, coming in at .14. Schmidt says he suggested to the officer that the machine was broken and asked for another test, which did not happen.
Schmidt resides in the Ponoka area and on the night of the incident had visited a local establishment. His friends drank heavily and while he had nothing to drink there, he had had drinks earlier. However, Schmidt thought he was able to drive.
He has three other similar charges, the most recent dating back to the mid-1990s.