Skip to content

Mayoral candidate still on ballot despite conviction

BY KEITH LACEY [email protected] David Popescu?s criminal conviction for assaulting his mother won?t affect his campaign for mayor.
BY KEITH LACEY

David Popescu?s criminal conviction for assaulting his mother won?t affect his campaign for mayor.

Popescu, who has run in several local elections in the past decade on a religious platform, was put on probation for three years with the court ordering him not to visit his mother unless in the presence of a family member or friend.

City clerk Thom Mowry says there are no municipal, provincial or federal regulations preventing someone with a criminal conviction from running for office.

Canadian citizens serving time in jail are disqualified from running for office, but not those serving probation.

Popescu was convicted of ?elder abuse? against his 89-year-old mother Elsie after he admitted to grabbing her by the arm and shaking her lightly following a dispute in early June.

Justice A.J. Fuller told the court that while he considered granting a conditional sentence, meaning Popescu would not have a criminal record if he abided by certain conditions during a period of probation, it was not appropriate in this case.

Popescu?s sentence involved him agreeing to undertake psychological assessment and any further counselling his probation officer might recommend.

If Popescu successfully undertakes counselling and shows a change to his controlling behaviour towards his mother, he can apply to the court to change the conditions of his probation and perhaps return to the family
home to live with his mother again on a full-time basis, said Fuller.

After the judge?s decision, Popescu spent time talking to his mother in the presence of his sister.

Popescu doesn?t grasp the seriousness of what happened?he needs to know this wasn?t a minor offence,? the crown said. ?He must come to understand his mother can live her life the way she wants.?

If psychological assessment indicates a serious change in attitude, Popescu will have every opportunity to apply to the courts to have conditions of probation altered several months down the road, she said.

Popescu defended himself at trial. He told the judge he wasn?t attempting to minimize the fact that what he did was wrong, but simply to indicate there wasn?t any extreme violence involved and he never intended to cause
physical pain or bruising to his mother.