A man who was given a lifetime ban from driving more than two decades ago was sent to jail Wednesday for being behind the wheel without a licence for the 12th and 13th times.

Wayne Johnnie, 48, of Whitehorse, was sentenced to 15 months in the Whitehorse Correctional Centre after pleading guilty to two counts of driving while disqualified and one count of failing to provide a breath sample.

Territorial court heard about two incidents last year that had led to these charges.

The first instance was in March, when the RCMP stopped a car.

Before being asked, Johnnie got out of the vehicle, fired up a cigarette and blurted out the word 'silverfish.'

Court later heard from Johnnie's lawyer, Lynn MacDiarmid, that he has since changed his last name to Silverfox and that's what was said, not silverfish.

He told the police he had a licence but it wasn't on him. He then took off. He was not tracked down right away.

The second set of charges came out of an incident on the evening of Aug. 12, 2004.

In that case, a mother and her daughter were walking the daughter's child in a carriage in the Porter Creek area on the edge of the road.

According to Crown prosecutor Cindy Freedman, the two said they saw a vehicle coming and make a wide turn toward them and the edge of the road.

The vehicle wound up on the side of the road where the ditch would be if there was one, the court heard from Freedman.

Because the vehicle was travelling slow enough, the grandmother was able to push the carriage out of the way of the oncoming vehicle.

The two women recognized Johnnie as the driver of the car.

The daughter chased after the vehicle and saw it parked on a nearby street. The police were called in and the daughter saw the driver in a back yard.

She proceeded to chase after him.

At one point, she was close enough to the man to get the sense he was drunk.

When police arrived, they arrested Johnnie and found extreme symptoms of him being drunk.

The police took an initial sample and found he was over the legal blood/alcohol limit.

However, when they went to take a breathalyzer sample, Johnnie refused to blow hard enough.

MacDiarmid agreed to most of the story as laid out by Freedman; however, she said Johnnie claimed he made a wide but safe turn.

She added that Johnnie felt the two were walking close to the middle of the road.

However, Judge John Faulkner pointed out the two women obviously felt concerned if they pushed the child out of the way and charged after Johnnie.

Johnnie was banned from driving for life on June 20, 1980.

As well, he had been put on probation in June 2003 and told to abstain from alcohol.

On the first offence, Freedman said she wanted six to nine months in jail for the offender.

For the two convictions coming out of last August's incident, the Crown attorney asked Faulkner to give him 18 months in jail plus three years' probation.

Freedman said the probation is justifiable since his prior record indicates he will need to be monitored.

In making the decision, Faulkner considered Johnnie's previous record.

'He has a somewhat astounding prior record,' said Faulkner.

The judge noted there had been 66 convictions between 1973 and 2003. Some of those convictions were for serious offences and led to time in a penitentiary.

Faulkner noted Johnnie has 10 prior convictions for drunk driving and 11 previous driving-while-disqualified convictions.

He remarked that Johnnie has ' a persistent criminal record.'

MacDiarmid noted that the majority of the drunk driving charges happened around 1980 and that the last one was in 1982. She said her client is making efforts to change.

The judge said the pre-sentence report showed no reason to believe he'll try to make changes.

Faulkner noted that Johnnie tried to minimize his actions.

'He sought to minimize his responsibility by suggesting the two women ... were walking on the road.'

The judge said Johnnie's driving while disqualified is a safety concern.

MacDiarmid noted Johnnie had a difficult upbringing and spent time growing up in a Wolf Creek group home in the 1970s.

Faulkner acknowledged the impacts of residential schools.

However, the judge said there is a need for a substantial sentence for Johnnie.

The judge gave Johnnie a total conviction of 27 months nine months for the one driving while banned, and 18 months for the other driving illegally and the refusal to give a sample.

However, Johnnie has been in jail since last August. The judicial system considers time spent before a conviction to count double.

Those six months are then considered to be 12 months and subtracted from the total, leaving Johnnie with 15 more months.

As part of the sentence, Johnnie will have to abstain from drugs and alcohol.

The lifetime driving ban also remains in effect.