Hundreds of hours of volunteer service helped a man avoid jail time after a weeklong crime spree in St. Albert last year.
Prasath Sathiyaseelan appeared in provincial court in St. Albert Monday, Sept. 9 on charges including assault with a weapon.
Justice G.A. Rice heard the middle-aged man was arrested three times within a number of days in summer 2023. The most serious charge was the result of Sathiyaseelan throwing a rock through a car window. The occupant suffered cuts from the broken glass.
The other arrests involved stealing nine bottles of liquor from a store the city’s southwest and attempting to break into a vehicle with a screwdriver in a commercial parking lot before a security officer intervened.
Rice heard Sathiyaseelan had a criminal history going back years, with a break between 2011 and 2017, a time when court heard Sathiyaseelan was married and in a relatively good place. They are no longer married.
Sathiyaseelan’s criminal record included a conviction for over 80 in Ontario in April, 2023, for which he received a conditional sentence order (CSO), which would have had conditions similar to house arrest.
Justice Rice noted the incongruity between the sentence for over 80 with the joint submission by the defence and Crown for the more serious charge of assault with a weapon: a 12-month suspended sentence, or probation, plus a five-year weapons prohibition.
Such an assault has resulted in the death of the victim in the past, the judge said.
What’s more is the conditions didn’t include abstaining from alcohol or drugs, rather to not be found intoxicated in a public place or in a licensed establishment in any state. The Crown said this more lenient approach allows for the fact that recovery is a tall order on any day and relapses are known to occur.
Because Sathiyaseelan took steps toward rehabilitation and restitution, including completing 700 hours of volunteer service at an Edmonton shelter prior to walking into court Monday, the Crown was open to the suspended sentence.
Sathiyaseelan, who was said to be moving to a sober living house at the end of the month, also had to submit a sample to the national DNA database and is forbidden from entering the liquor store he stole from.
“I want to thank God for the man I am today,” Sathiyaseelan said. “I apologize for the choices I made in the past.”
Justice Rice said he doesn’t want to set anyone up for failure but marked that usually when someone uses substance addiction rehab to avoid jail time, it comes with a stronger statement of “I got this beat.”
He’s bound to accept such suggestions when both sides agree, but said it was on the unconventional side.
“Either say you’re done or you’re not. Let’s not mess around with it,” Justice Rice said. “…but your addiction to alcohol, it’s pretty amazing what you’re doing. It’s concerning how deep that alcohol addiction was, but also impressive that you beat it.”
