VERNON – A Vernon man’s appeal on dangerous driving and stolen property charges has been thrown out, despite his claims that a trial judge handled the matter unjustly.

Robert Andel, 58, was found guilty of stealing a Dodge Ram truck and driving it into a house on January 31, 2010. In his appeal, Andel says the judge wrongly used his criminal record in forming his decision, and ignored crucial evidence given at the trial.

Based on Andel’s statement to police, the trial judge found he was “prepared to fabricate evidence.” Combined with a history of “disrespect for the law” and a conviction of perjury in 1986, the judge rejected Andel’s evidence “without any hesitation at all.”

The second ground for appeal was that the judge misapprehended evidence that a man named Rick, whose identity has never been made known, was in fact the true driver of the Dodge, and escaped before police arrived at the scene. The trial judge described Andel as being “cagey” and “dishonest” with police.

In her decision, Justice Mary Newbury dismissed both grounds, stating the judge was entitled to use Andel’s criminal record to assess credibility, and that no evidence had been misapprehended, “although it (reasoning) might have been stated a little more carefully.”

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca, call (250)309-5230 or tweet @charhelston.