A Saanich man described as the curse of his Harriet Road neighbourhood has been sentenced to 30 days in jail and ordered to stay away until he can live like a normal human being.

On Friday, David Tkachuk admitted he was in contempt of an April 2 order by B.C. Supreme Court Justice Robin Baird when he repeatedly disregarded noise and garbage bylaws at his father John’s house at 3422 Harriet Rd.

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“You’ve been on Harriet Street making a nuisance of yourself for a really long time,” Baird said. “I don’t know what the problem is. I don’t know why you consider yourself at liberty to act in this repetitive and unhinged way. But unless you’re out of your mind, then surely you’ll be able to understand why it is that your neighbours are at their wits’ end.

“How would you like to have a neighbour like you?”

Saanich lawyer Geof Simair told the court that police have been at the house more than 200 times since Tkachuk, 41, moved in with his father in 2007. Tkachuk has piled garbage and junk all around the property and used power tools to saw metal at 3 a.m. Unsavoury characters are at the house day and night, there are tents in the backyard, and neighbours are awakened by fistfights, yelling, screaming and profanity.

Victoria lawyer Rick Schwartz, who stepped in to assist Tkachuk, said Tkachuk has a problem with alcohol. And although the property was an unsightly mess — at one point there were 200 bicycles on the property — none of the activity had invited criminal charges, Schwartz said.

“This has been an unremitting nightmare for the decent, law-abiding citizens who live in this neighbourhood,” Baird said. “This is what you have foisted on your neighbours for five or six long years and it’s utterly repulsive conduct about which you should be completely ashamed.”

Tkachuk has been given municipal tickets and fines. The municipality has cleaned up the property several times. Tkachuk doesn’t work and he has cost his fellow citizens a ton of money, said the judge.

“I’d love to see a forensic accounting of how much you’ve cost the District of Saanich over the years. I bet it’s thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars,” said Baird.

The District of Saanich finally applied to the court for an injunction. On April 2, Baird ordered Tkachuk to cease and desist from any further violations of the noise and garbage bylaws.

Since then, he has been arrested five times for disregarding the order. He spent the long weekend in custody and was released on an undertaking not to go back to Harriet Road, but immediately returned.

“I am unable to come to any conclusion other than you just don’t give a damn about anybody except yourself. You will not be deterred except by the most emphatic of gestures. The time is long past when I’m interested in letting you out to show that you can be a good boy,” said Baird.

“You’re a nuisance and a curse to this neighbourhood. They’ve had enough and I don’t blame them and they are to be left in peace for ever more.”

Baird warned Tkachuk that the next time he breached, he would spend more time in jail.

“The next time, 30 days is the basement. That’s where it starts. It will be 30. It will be 60, it will be 90, 120. If you want to spend the rest of your adult life in jail, because you can’t restrain the impulse to be a jerk, be my guest. I’ll be happy to assist you in that connection,” said Baird.

If he wants to return to his father’s home, Tkachuk will have to come back to court and apply to have the order set aside and prove he can live as a law-abiding citizen.

“I don’t want you anywhere near these people. I don’t want them to have to look at you. I don’t want them to have to deal with you. I don’t want to have them pass you in the street. I want you out of their hair,” said Baird.

ldickson@timescolonist.com