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.