The Provincial Offences Court on Montreal Street was busy earlier this week as more than 245 people who had been fined while the University District Safety Initiative was in place this fall faced a justice of the peace.

“The cop said it would likely be a $120 fine,” said Noah Levine, who pleaded guilty to riding the shoulders of a friend while pouring Bacardi rum into the open mouths of revellers below him during Queen’s University Homecoming.

“He was wrong,” justice of the peace Jack Chiang replied before fining him $150 for having open alcohol in a public place.

The safety initiative forces anyone who is fined with any offence relating to unsanctioned partying during the weekends of St. Patrick’s Day and Homecoming, as well as Orientation Week, to appear in court. The initiative was created in 2018 along with the Nuisance Party Bylaw.

The bylaw enables Kingston Police to declare any party that is unsanctioned by Queen’s University or the City of Kingston a nuisance.

Justice Chiang presided over each case — more than 155 on Monday and roughly 90 on Tuesday. The flow of defendants was controlled by court officers, who allowed about 35 people into the body of the court at a time. This led to some people waiting for six hours or more just to enter a guilty plea and to pay a fine.

It appeared as though many were simply pleading guilty to get the matter dealt with. Because of this, Chiang found himself repeating what a true guilty plea means.

“You are forfeiting your right to a trial,” Chiang told the courtroom. “You have to be 100 per cent sure you are guilty. If you are 99 per cent sure, I cannot accept your guilty plea … you can not plead guilty out of convenience.”

The vast majority of the offences dealt with on Monday and Tuesday were for open alcohol, with many being fined $140. Then there was underage drinking, usually a $100 fine; public intoxication, a $50 fine; and the Nuisance Party Bylaw, a $500 fine. While the fines are described as “set,” Chiang had the ability to increase or lower the fine based on aggravating and mitigating factors.

With each new group in the room, Chiang explained what imposing a sentence is supposed to achieve: to be a deterrent to the offender and the general public in the future.

“It is prevention rather than punishment,” Chiang said.

During his sentencing there were many one-liners:

“Tell your friends,” Chiang told many, including Callum Stevenson, who had to get up at 4 a.m. to drive from Toronto to plead guilty to having open alcohol.

“Some advice for all of you: avoid Aberdeen Street,” he told Brent Hickey, who came for the Homecoming parties from Cobourg.

“Have you learned your lesson?” he asked Luke Carvealho, who initially gave police a fake name when caught with an open Molson Canadian on University Avenue, and many more.

“Pretty early, right? Even for Queen’s; I went to Queen’s,” he told Jonah Zoldan, who pleaded guilty “with an apology” to having open alcohol at 10 a.m.

On Tuesday, there were several sets of roommates before Chiang, all individually charged under the Nuisance Party Bylaw. All said they were co-operative with police and they had only invited their friends, but then became overcrowded with strangers.

City prosecutor Sarah Gareau submitted that they knew what would happen by blasting music and keeping their doors unlocked. She said these cases are a prime example of why the Nuisance Party Bylaw was created.

Throughout Tuesday, Gareau explained to Chiang that the defendants were treating the city like a “playground,” and that more than 100 police officers were forced to “babysit” those who “just came for the party.” She estimated that even with the thousands of dollars worth of fines being levied over the two days, it wouldn’t cover the overtime costs for police and other first responders.

Gareau read out the facts of each case and countered any defendant who questioned the offence to which they were pleading guilty. In the case of Casper Poelen, he pleaded guilty to being stopped by an officer in the middle of Aberdeen Street with an open beer. Before being asked, Poelen poured a small amount of the beer onto the road but then chugged the rest right in front of the officer.

He then gave a fake name and denied having an identification card on him. When the Queen’s student pretended to show the officer his pockets were empty, a British Columbia driver’s licence was revealed. He was fined $160.

Sometimes after Gareau read out the facts, the defendants decided to make a submission to explain their actions or refute what Gareau had said. Sometimes those submissions made the defendants’ cases worse. One such example was the case of 19-year-old Nikola Cronin, who pleaded guilty to public intoxication.

Gareau explained to the court that Cronin was in the middle of Johnson Street with a large crowd and refused to get off the road. Apologizing to Chiang, she said that Cronin yelled at an officer: “F— off, f—— a——.”

Cronin respectfully refuted the facts that Gareau presented, explaining that the officer initially called him an “a——” and a “jackass.” He also clarified what he said to the officer: “F— off, f—— m—–f—–.”

“That’s worse!” Chiang replied, before fining him $75.

scrosier@postmedia.com

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