A girl will likely be spending two months in jail after crashing into a house on Eighth Street final 12 months whereas driving beneath the affect.
Sheena Desmarais, 35, pleaded responsible earlier this 12 months to working a automobile whereas impaired and failing to cease after an accident. During sentencing proceedings on Tuesday, the Crown and defence had been far aside on their really useful sentence for the lady, with the Crown arguing for three months in jail and the defence asking the choose to permit her to serve a sentence locally on house arrest.
Crown legal professional Rich Lonstrup learn the information of the case in courtroom.
Around midnight on Sept. 21, 2023, after a night of ingesting, Desmarais crashed her automobile via the fence of a house within the 700 block of Eighth Street. The fence posts had been pulled out of the bottom and the automobile continued to drive throughout the garden earlier than crashing into the house.
The collision tore off Desmarais’ entrance bumper and licence plate, which had been left on the house owner’s garden after Desmarais drove away from the scene. She then drove to a house within the 800 block of Fifth Street the place she hid contained in the house.
A police canine with Brandon Police Service tracked Desmarais from the collision to the second house. She got here exterior when police arrived and admitted to being the driving force.
Breath samples revealed that Desmarais’ blood-alcohol degree was greater than twice the authorized restrict. Desmarais had one passenger within the automobile together with her, a buddy, who mentioned that Demarais had made a pointy flip to keep away from an oncoming automobile, which brought about her to swerve into the fence.
Lonstrup emphasised the excessive blood-alcohol readings, the collision and the presence of a passenger as elements that made the incident extra critical.
“These are the kinds of impaired driving matters where even in the absence of bodily harm, or life lost, it shocks the public conscience,” the prosecutor mentioned, arguing towards a community-based sentence.
Desmarais’ defence lawyer, Bob Harrison, argued that his consumer ought to obtain the least restrictive sentence and famous {that a} pre-sentence report rated Desmarais with a low danger to reoffend.
He mentioned his consumer, who’s the mom of seven kids, has struggled with despair, accepts duty for her actions and felt badly about what occurred.
Desmarais apologized to the owners. “I’m hoping to get a chance not just for myself but for my kids,” she mentioned.
Judge Shauna Hewitt-Michta acknowledged the non-public circumstances of Desmarais, although she emphasised the continued social drawback of drunk driving and the necessity for a sentence that offers vital weight to public security.
While the choose mentioned {that a} house arrest order might be an applicable sentence for the offence in sure circumstances, the information of Desmarais’ offence are too critical and warranted that she spends time in jail.
“I think that a clear message goes out to the community when the court imposes a real jail sentence here and not a conditional (house-arrest) sentence,” Hewitt-Michta mentioned.
Citing Demarais’ Indigenous background as a mitigating issue, the choose selected a two-month jail sentence together with a two-year driving prohibition.
Desmarais was escorted out of the courtroom by the sheriffs.
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