A man with a troubled past and a life-threatening medical ailment has been released from custody 10 days after he was found with a stolen shotgun in St. Albert.
Tarik Jace Ziehbart, 27, was granted bail Monday when he appeared in St. Albert Provincial Court via closed-circuit television from the Edmonton Remand Centre.
Police picked him up Feb. 15 at roughly 1 p.m. after a joint investigation by the St. Albert RCMP drug and traffic unit.
A press release issued last week by St. Albert RCMP stated that members of the RCMP drug unit observed a suspicious vehicle parked outside the Sleep Inn motel along St. Albert Trail. Officers determined the licence plate on the 1998 Oldsmobile Aurora was invalid.
The RCMP traffic unit conducted a traffic stop at roughly 1 p.m. that day and found Ziehbart to be driving an unregistered and uninsured vehicle with a suspended licence.
Upon searching the vehicle, police found a stolen 0.12 gauge shotgun, a can of bear spray, break-in instruments, garage door openers, a Canadian Forces issue combat helmet and backpack and several electronic devices.
He faces 11 charges, including five firearm-related offences, two charges for possession of stolen property, possession of break-in instruments and three traffic offences.
Crown prosecutor Patricia Hankinson opposed Ziehbart’s release, citing a three page criminal record featuring weapons-related offences and a long list of charges for failing to appear in court.
“He has had weapons offences in the past,” she said, adding granting his release would fail to protect society.
Lawyer Darin Sprake acknowledged his client’s “horrendous” record but said he has changed.
Ziehbart was diagnosed with colon cancer in May and, around that same time, lost a family member to cancer. It was around this time that Ziehbart moved to Calgary to be close to family and to care for his four-year-old son.
Sprake said the cancer returned within the last eight weeks and said Ziehbart was staying in St. Albert while receiving medical treatment.
Judge Bruce Garriock granted $2,000 cash bail on the grounds that Ziehbart is tied to the community as he financially supports his family, has full-custody of his four-year-old son and is undergoing medical treatment.
An Edmonton teenager will spend 90 days behind bars for stealing a bottle of rum from a local liquor retailer.
Cajen Cree Rain, 19, pleaded guilty from the Edmonton Remand Centre to two charges of theft under $5,000.
Crown prosecutor John Donahoe told the court Rain entered Mission Liquor on McKenney Avenue on two separate occasions Feb. 20 to steal liquor.
When police apprehended Rain, he was found with a bottle of rum, valued at roughly $40, concealed in his left sleeve.
Lawyer Brad Leebody said Rain is currently a student at Boyle Street Education Centre in Edmonton and asked that he be permitted to serve the jail time intermittently on weekends.
Garriock sentenced Rain to 90 days behind bars, with credit for the six days he spent in pre-sentence custody, to be served intermittently and one year probation.
A St. Albert student was handed a $1,500 fine for driving with a blood-alcohol concentration over the legal limit after she drove her vehicle into a tree in mid December.
Tanya Catherine Sleen, 25, admitted to consuming four coolers before getting behind the wheel and crashing into a tree Dec. 16.
Hankinson told the court that RCMP were called to the scene at McKenney Avenue near Laydon Drive around 6 p.m. that night. Sleen was found to have a blood-alcohol concentration more than double the legal limit at 0.166.
“She’s just thankful that it was only her vehicle,” Leebody said, adding road conditions were slippery at the time of the collision.
“I’d just like to apologize,” Sleen said.
Sleen had no criminal record at the time of the offence and is prohibited from driving for one year.
Hankinson withdrew a charge for impaired operation of a motor vehicle.
