The applicant, Viktor Lipinski, serving a strict conditional sentence for impaired driving causing bodily harm, sought a variation of his house arrest terms to allow him to attend school and work.
The conditional sentence supervisor filed the application, which the Crown opposed.
The court found a material change in circumstances based on psychiatric evidence that the strict house arrest was exacerbating Lipinski's pre-existing mood disorder.
The court varied the sentence to allow exceptions for work and school to begin after eight months, rather than the original eighteen months, balancing the punitive objectives of the sentence with the need to prevent further deterioration of the offender's mental health.
