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Prison sought in St. Lazare road incident
But judge says he won't make example of young motorist
DAVID JOHNSTON
The Gazette
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Edward Hakim and his parents leave Valleyfield courthouse. ROBERT GALBRAITH/THE GAZETTE
VALLEYFIELD - Quebec's crackdown on dangerous driving made its presence felt yesterday with a crown prosecutor asking a judge to make an example of a Dorval driver who hit Patricia Jolicoeur in 2006, leaving her severely brain damaged.
But Judge Michel Mercier of Quebec Court responded: "I'm not going to make an example of him."
Mercier, did, however, promise during yesterday's hearing that the sentence driver Edward Hakim is to receive April 23 will be "the most just" under the circumstances.
"I'm not known for severe sentences, and I'm not known for light sentences," the judge said.
Prosecutor Elise Maldemay argued in favour of a 30-month federal prison term; defence lawyer Martin Pilotte said 15 to 18 months served in the community would better serve justice.
Maldemay urged Mercier to issue a sentence that would reflect the will of the provincial government, which last December passed Bill 42 and Bill 55 to crack down on dangerous driving.
But Mercier noted the Jolicoeur accident happened in late 2006 and the provincial road-safety campaign didn't get going until 2007.
The Jolicoeur case is one of a series of high-profile road incidents over the past two years in suburban Montreal that turned public opinion against reckless drivers and prompted the government to take action.
Patricia Jolicoeur was 27 years old in November 2006, when she was struck by Hakim on a residential street in the Saddlebrook section of the off-island western suburb of St. Lazare.
She suffered multiple skull and facial fractures and deep brain injuries. She can't speak, can't hear in one ear, is blind in one eye, paralyzed on one side of her body, and almost completely paralyzed on the other. She is being fed through a tube in her stomach by staff at the Pointe Claire chronic-care home where she now lives at a cost of $6,000 a month. In December, the provincial subsidy for her will be cut to $3,000 a month.
Maldemay cited the police report of the incident yesterday, in which Hakim's former girl- friend says she was "yelling" at Hakim to slow down before he hit Jolicoeur.
Moments before the accident, Hakim swung into the oncoming lane of the street to pull alongside a car driven by a friend, James Holehouse.
After hitting Jolicoeur, he didn't stop. It was only one to five minutes later, according to statements made to police, that he returned to the scene.
Accident investigators estimated Hakim had been driving between 55 and 65 kilometres per hour in a 40 kilometres-an-hour zone, although Holehouse said he thought they were only going about 45.
Hakim, who turned 21 in January, pleaded guilty last September to a charge of dangerous driving causing bodily harm. Two of the other original three charges, of hit-and-run and criminal negligence causing bodily harm, were dropped.