A Brampton judge who handed out a conditional, non-jail sentence to a man convicted of his fifth impaired driving offence did not merely make a “clear error,” but committed “a wilful violation of her judicial obligation to apply the laws of this country to the best of her ability,” according to another judge overturning the lower court ruling.

“I view it as an affront to the administration of justice for a judge to choose to knowingly disregard and decline to follow the law that must be applied,” wrote Superior Court Justice Jennifer Woollcombe in her decision released last month.

Woollcombe was responding to an appeal by the Crown of a conditional sentence handed out by Ontario Court Justice Khatira Jalali after Joseph LeClaire pleaded guilty to driving while impaired on fentanyl — only

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