MANDEL: 'Incorrigible' speeding menace gets third chance at parole
The local police and his parole officer were against the Ontario man being released
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Perhaps the third time will be the charm – but we doubt it.
Over the objections of his parole officer and the local police, the ever-optimistic Parole Board of Canada is willing to give Adam Simeunovich another chance at day parole – despite it being yanked twice before because the “incorrigible” chronic speeder under a lifetime driving ban has been accused of getting back behind the wheel.
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Simeunovich, now 47, was originally serving a 10-year sentence for causing a horrific crash in 2017 that left a young father with broken ribs, a shattered pelvis and brain trauma after T-boning his car while speeding and running red lights through downtown Whitby like a “deranged maniac.“
The coward then fled the scene.
With his criminal record of over 50 convictions – more than 30 driving-related, including 15 for operating a vehicle while disqualified – as well as the lifetime driving prohibition, Justice Peter West described Simeunovich as “being completely incorrigible” and handed him a stiff sentence.
The judge also issued a prescient warning: “It is my belief that as soon as Mr. Simeunovich is released from custody he will continue to drive and he will put his own interests above anyone else, completely unconcerned about putting other members of the public at risk.”
How right he was.
Two years into his sentence, Simeunovich was released on day parole only to have it suspended just 42 days later after Durham Regional Police alleged someone matching his description was seen speeding and running a red light in an orange Corvette. The board officially revoked his day parole in March 2021.
After he was acquitted on the charges and successfully appealed his revocation, he was released on day parole in September 2021.
Two months later, police arrested Simeunovich behind the wheel of a white pickup truck and charged him with driving while disqualified, failing to comply with parole and possession of a forged driver’s licence. His day parole was revoked again and in 2022, he was convicted and sentenced to eight years and five months to run consecutive to the sentence he’s currently serving.
Simeunovich appealed all the way to the Supreme Court and lost.
“Your criminal history is extensive and repetitious,” the parole board noted in its recent decision. “It began early without breaks leading to the index offence, and you have a poor record of community supervision, both of which are considered aggravating.”
The Correctional Service of Canada linked his criminal history to “impulsive behaviour, defiance of conditions and the law, disregard for the safety of the public, problem solving/recognition skills, coping, and a nonconforming attitude.”
The parole board decision notes Simeunovich has had a poor work-release history with his employment supervisor complaining about his inability to follow directions “often opting to do things your own way” – which hardly comes as a shocker.
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His reintegration potential has been rated as “low” but the board put that down to his previous breaches of day parole and instead focused on his “positive behaviour” since his reincarceration at the minimum security prison.
“The Board has not lost sight of your significant criminal history, poor history of conditional release, and the serious nature of your index offence, which demonstrates the potential for serious harm, should you re-offend,’ the decision states.
“Without minimizing the seriousness of your offence and the harm it has caused, you have taken responsibility for your offending, have expressed remorse, and you have actively followed your Correctional Plan.”
Never mind that “the Parole Office remains unsupportive of release, at this time,” the board decided to roll the dice on our safety and grant Simeunovich release to a halfway house with conditions that he follow a treatment program and, of course, “not operate a motor or electric vehicle of any kind.”
And we know how well that prohibition has worked in the past.
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