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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION
Banned woman vows to return
Asks court to allow move to Manitoba
A Winnipeg woman claims she was tricked by justice officials -- including her own lawyer -- into accepting an unusual sentence that includes a five-year ban from living in her home province.
Alanna Phizacklea appeared in court Wednesday by video link from British Columbia, where she has been living since being sentenced in March for a string of crimes including criminal harassment against two individuals. The Crown had sought a penitentiary term but agreed to a more lenient two-year conditional sentence and three years of supervised probation as long as Phizacklea agreed to take a one-way ticket out of town and not come back for the duration of her punishment.
"I would never have agreed to that," Phizacklea said Wednesday. "This condition is so unfair. I will fight to my last breath. I'm not going to let the courts do this to me anymore."
Phizacklea is acting as her own lawyer and wants to delete the condition, saying her elderly mother is planning to move back to Winnipeg from B.C. next month and she wishes to join her. She said they've also held off having a funeral service for her father in Winnipeg since his death nearly six months ago.
The Crown is opposed, saying Phizacklea has serious untreated mental-health issues and a history of stalking people she encounters and becomes fixated on. In the most recent case, her victim was her probation officer, who had been assigned to work with her following a previous conviction. Many of her victims live in fear and were happy to learn she had agreed to hit the road, court was told.
On Wednesday, provincial court Judge Ted Lismer questioned why Phizacklea went along with the sentence. She claims her former lawyer, Jeff Gindin, blindsided her with the idea just moments before court began and never gave her the chance to voice her opposition either to him or the judge.
Crown attorney Susan Helenchilde called that ridiculous, saying there's plenty of evidence Phizacklea knew what she was getting into and any claims to the contrary "are a function of her delusional disorder," which includes refusing to take any medication prescribed by doctors.
Lismer said he's concerned at the "very serious allegations" Phizacklea made about Gindin and adjourned the hearing so he could order a transcript and allow the well-respected Winnipeg lawyer a chance to see what his former client is claiming.
Gindin will be given an opportunity to respond when the hearing resumes in late September.
Phizacklea had to be warned numerous times on Wednesday to stay on topic as she repeatedly interrupted the judge and the Crown, saying she's the victim of a corrupt justice system. She claims to have suffered extreme harassment and abuse while behind bars for previous offences and denied being mentally ill.
"All I'm trying to do is maintain a life with dignity. I can't seem to get my life back. I don't understand any of this. I'm not a threat to anyone," Phizacklea told court.
There have been a handful of similar banishment cases in recent years, although justice officials believe this is the longest and most expansive. Phizacklea suggested Wednesday she may defy the existing order and return to Manitoba -- a move the Crown warned would result in termination of her conditional sentence and a trip back to jail.
www.mikeoncrime.com
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 16, 2012 A5
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