Wild, high ride in stolen taxi leads to jail
Dominic Demerchant, 21, of Douglas, had police scrambling to keep up with him as he drove dangerously all around capital region last fall, court hears at sentencing Tuesday
A Douglas man will remain behind bars for a while longer, a judge ruled Tuesday, for erratic and dangerous behaviour that included high-speed pursuits around the Fredericton region last fall.
Dominic Demerchant, 21, of Route 105, appeared in person and in custody in Fredericton provincial court Tuesday for a sentencing hearing.
He’d previously pleaded guilty to Sept. 18 counts of uttering threats and possessing stolen property, and Sept. 26 counts of driving dangerously, driving while impaired by a drug, driving while prohibited, possessing a stolen vehicle and breaching a probation order.
Crown prosecutor Rodney Jordan said the latter crimes arose when Fredericton Police Force officers responded to a report of a stolen vehicle at the Irving station at the corner of Prospect and Regent streets at about 11:30 p.m. Sept. 25.
It was discovered that a Checker Cab driver had parked at the gas station and went inside the store, leaving the Dodge Caravan running with the keys in it.
A male suspect whom a witness identified as someone he knew as Dominic - later identified as Demerchant - jumped in the van and fled the scene, heading down Prospect Street toward Hanwell Road.
A civilian on Hanwell Road took note of the van at about 12:05 a.m. Sept. 26, as it was tailgating him and flashing its lights, the prosecutor said. The van passed and was reaching speeds of up to 140-150 kilometres per hour, court heard, and then slowing down.
The civilian was concerned about the erratic and dangerous driving, Jordan said, and after dropping his girlfriend off at home, he switched vehicles and managed to locate the Caravan in a Hanwell subdivision, speeding up to each driveway then slowing down, as if he were checking out each residence.
“He followed from a distance and contacted police,” the prosecutor said of the civilian witness.
Fredericton police officers were actively searching for the stolen taxi, court heard, and an officer spotted it on Woodstock Road near the Hartt Island Campground.
Police caught up with him at the Mactaquac Dam, Jordan said, and they saw the Caravan go around other vehicles and run a red light at the structure.
Shortly thereafter, a Fredericton police officer following Demerchant observed the van speeding up and slowing down repeatedly, and driving quite erratically, the prosecutor said.
Eventually, court heard, the van’s tires went off the shoulder and off the road.
Demerchant, who was alone, tried to make it seem like he hadn’t been, Jordan said.
“He was trying to tell police the driver had taken off on foot,” he said.
Demerchant was clearly under the influence of something, court heard, as he exhibited slurred speech, jumbled his words and stumbled.
Jordan noted the offender was on probation at the time and was prohibited from driving, for a similar incident involving a stolen vehicle for which he’d been sentenced May 2.
Hubbub at hospital
The prosecutor saidDemerchant ran afoul of Fredericton police just a week before, for which he was charged with uttering threats and possessing stolen property.
He caused a disturbance at the Dr. Everett Chalmers Regional hospital Sept. 18 when security guards at the facility ejected him.
“The accused was punching the vending machine as he was leaving the hospital,” Jordan said.
When security personnel approached Demerchant, he said, he brandished a pocket knife
“The accused said he was going to stab and kill the security guard,” the prosecutor said.
When police arrived, Demerchant was yelling in the bus shelter outside the hospital and punching the glass, he said.
Police found he was on probation and arrested him for uttering threats, court heard, and when officers searched his backpack, they found a number of stolen items, including a set of keys for a Dodge Caravan, sunglasses and packs of cigarettes.
Jordan said an investigation revealed the Caravan, different from the one Demerchant would steal the next week, was found and had been stolen as well.
He asked the court to impose a nine-month jail term for the various crimes, with an additional reduction to give the offender credit for time served on remand.
Defence lawyer Gerald Pugh agreed the circumstances merited jail time but asked Judge Scott Brittain to impose a slightly lesser term of seven months.
Pugh emphasized the mental-health and addictions struggles that have plagued Demerchant for most of his life.
Court heard Demerchant had a tumultuous childhood and suffers from such issues as bipolar, oppositional defiance and attention deficit hyperactivity disorders.
The offender apologized for his actions.
“I’ve learned from my mistakes,” he said.
But Brittain said given “considerable symmetry” between Demerchant’s latest crimes and the ones for which he’d been sentenced just months before suggested those lessons hadn’t been learned at all.
“Apparently, it didn’t resonate the first time,” the judge said. “The overall circumstances of the offences are highly aggravating.”
He noted the sentence also needed to address the need to rehabilitate the offender and to help him with his many issues.
“He’s obviously had a very challenging beginning to his life,” Brittain said.
He accepted the Crown’s recommendation, imposing a nine-month jail term.
The judge said Demerchant had served 106 days on remand, and after the customary 1½-to-one credit was applied, that meant the jail term was to be reduced by 159 days for time already served.
Following the jail sentence, the court said, Demerchant will be on probation for 12 months, during which he’s to have no contact with his victims and to undergo counselling as directed by his probation officer.
The judge also imposed a two-year driving prohibition.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
Lock him up and throw away the key.