Drunk driver case leaves city judge feeling ‘sick’

CALGARY A Calgary judge says he has had enough of dealing with drunk drivers who kill innocent people.

“I’m sick of hearing these cases, I’m sick of hearing of people being killed by drunk drivers,” Justice Keith Yamauchi said during sentencing submissions in an impaired driving causing death case.

“It has to stop,” the Court of Queen’s Bench judge said.

But Yamauchi said he wasn’t convinced stiffer sentences are the cure to the carnage on Canadian streets.

“I’m not sure, sitting in this spot, what we can do to deal with this troubling issue,” he said, in response to Crown prosecutor Trevor Fik’s call for a sentence which will deter others from getting behind the wheel drunk.

Fik suggested Jaylene Lagrelle should be sentenced to four to five years in a federal prison for the collision which killed Calgarian Shiraz Shermohammad and injured four others on Oct. 23, 2016.

Shermohammad, 19, was a passenger in his father Karim’s Kia Forte when Lagrelle, 30, ran a red light at Country Hills Blvd. and Metis Tr. N.E. at up to 103 km/h and smashed into them with her Dodge SUV.

Based on breath samples provided more than two hours after the crash, her blood-alcohol level was estimated at between 154 and 179 mg per 100 ml of blood.

Shermohammad’s father, mother and sister were injured, as well as a passenger in Lagrelle’s vehicle.

Fik said “impaired driving is completely avoidable,” and a message was needed to deter others.

But defence lawyer Alain Hepner noted that increased penalties haven’t seemed to have a deterrent effect, and suggested a sentence of two to three years in a federal prison would be adequate.

Hepner said his client, who grew up in a “volcano” of alcohol abuse, hasn’t touched a drop of booze since the deadly crash.

Yamauchi also heard victim impact statements from several of Shermohammad’s siblings, as well as an apology to the family from Lagrelle.

“I have spoken to my kids daily about drinking and driving,” Lagrelle said. “I am so sorry for everything. I have a lot of guilt in me and I’m angry at myself,” Lagrelle said, addressing three members of the Shermohammad family in the courtroom gallery.

Hepner asked Yamauchi to recommend Lagrelle serve her sentence at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge in Maple Creek, Sask., where she can apply to have her 21-monthold daughter stay with her.

Yamauchi will sentence her next week.