Driving a stolen car while in possession and under the influence of fentanyl, Antonio Cardoso was lucky to survive a serious car crash on Highway 27 in Springwater Township almost three years ago.
Physically recovered but still fighting the demons that drove him to steal a car and cheat death by taking the powerful opioid and hopping behind the wheel, Cardoso, 56, was sentenced to 75 days in jail after being found guilty of impaired, theft, and drug-related offences in a Barrie courtroom.
“My No. 1 priority upon my release is to get help for my (fentanyl) addiction,” Cardoso told Ontario Court Justice Jodie-Lynn Waddilove.
Huronia West OPP arrived on the scene of a two-car collision in the wee hours of May 21, 2022. Court heard evidence that Cardoso was found not breathing and near death and had to be extricated from the car that had come to rest in a roadside ditch. A passenger in the stolen car fled the scene and was arrested a short distance away but was later released.
Two other people in the other car suffered minor injuries.
The sentence was effectively moot as Cardoso is in custody in another jurisdiction and will remain behind bars until matters there play out. Still, Waddilove was left with having to decide between a sentence that was effectively time served when enhanced pre-trial custody was factored in, or more time over and above the 42 days Cardoso has served, after enhancements, for the Springwater crash.
The 75 days Waddilove went with left Cardoso with 33 days left to serve.
Like many cases involving offenders housed at Central North Correctional Centre (CNCC) in Penetanguishene, court heard more details about conditions in the notoriously under-staffed superjail.
Cardoso’s defence cited him being triple bunked and “having to sleep on the floor with my head near the toilet.” But there was no evidence to verify that claim and apply even more enhanced credit beyond the 1.5:1 ratio typically given to offenders in pre-sentence custody.
Instead, Waddilove said she would take “judicial notice” of the conditions Cardoso was housed in at CNCC for almost a month after his arrest.
