Awaiting a sentence

Krystyna Dolasinski tearfully apologized to the court Monday during her sentencing hearing for her theft conviction.

“I’m very sorry for everything that has happened,” she told Justice Doug Shaw, adding she wants to take responsibility for the jury’s verdict.

The situation has had a tremendous effect on not only her life, but her family, children and the local Polish community, she said.

Justice Doug Shaw heard sentencing submissions from both the defense and the Crown Thursday morning and will give his decision on Oct. 31.

Dolasinski, the Port Arthur Polish Hall office manager from 2000 until September 2006, was found guilty in May of theft and fraud under $5,000 and falsifying documents. The charge of fraud under $5,000 was later stayed.

Dolasinski had originally been charged with theft over $5,000 and fraud over $5,000, in addition to the falsifying documents charge.

According to testimony heard during the four-week trial, bank statements produced from January to September 2005 showed the hall’s bank accounts go from $46,000 to $0, with many of the withdrawals listed as transfers to the hall’s operating account.

Throughout the trial Dolasinski’s lawyer Chris Watkins maintained the possibility that someone else was responsible for the majority of the fraud and the jury agreed.

Watkins asked for a conditional sentence in the community for his client plus probation and community service. Dolasinski would only be allowed to leave her home for work and necessities like medical appointments.

Watkins argued that with the conditional sentence Dolasinski would still be able to care for her 15-year-old daughter and maintain her employment, which would enable to pay restitution to the Polish Alliance.

But the Crown argued that because Dolasinski was convicted of fraud over $1,000 in 1993, in which she paid a fine and served 12 months of probation, she should face incarceration and asked for three to nine months.

A third option of intermittent incarceration was introduced by Watkins, meaning his client could end up serving time on the weekend so she could still work.

 

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