Man gets 2-year prison sentence for fatal drunk driving crash
A Mulgrave, N.S., man was sentenced to two years in prison and two years of probation for his role in a fatal 2015 crash near Port Hawkesbury that saw a passenger get ejected from the vehicle and die.
Scott Lundrigan, 22, was driving a small pickup truck that went out of control in Newtown and struck a power pole around 3 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2015.
James Daniel Poirier, 19, a passenger in the truck, was ejected. He died at the scene. Both Lundrigan and a second passenger were injured and treated in hospital.
Justice Robin Gogan issued the sentence at the Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Port Hawkesbury on Monday.
"There is no sentence that would return James Poirier to his family and Scott Lundrigan must live with that for the rest of his life," said Gogan.
She said the sentence sends a message that there are "serious consequences for those who drive impaired."
Gogan said she believes Lundrigan has accepted responsibility for his actions.
Some charges were dropped
Lundrigan originally faced charges of dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm, as well as operating a motor vehicle with a blood alcohol level of 0.08 per cent, but the other charges were dropped when he pleaded guilty in April to impaired driving causing death and impaired driving causing bodily harm.
The Crown and defence had asked for a two-year prison sentence, followed by two years of probation.
Crown attorney Thomas Kayter said that while drunk driving offences are serious, he noted that Lundrigan had no prior criminal record.
As well, Lundrigan lost both his best friend and sister to motor vehicle accidents in the past, which puts him at a "very low risk" to reoffend, said Gogan.
At the sentencing, a 12-minute video paying tribute to Poirier was played that featured friends sharing memories of him. Poirier was described as nice, supportive and someone with lots of potential.
Victim impact statements
During a victim impact statement given by Poirier's girlfriend, Cailin MacQuarrie, she said she has nightmares of him lying alone after the crash and she cries every day.
Poirier's mother, Debbie Long, said she has post-traumatic stress disorder that was caused by her son's death and she will never work again.
"It takes such strength to get out of bed and get up, shower," she said. "When you lose a child, it goes against nature. There is no pain that compares scientifically to the death of losing a child. Because the mother feels the heartbeat first and the mother is the first to know the child is coming.
"I can no longer be a mother or grandmother that I want to be to my son. It is so heartbreaking to know that one of my children no longer walks the earth from a 100 per cent preventable death."
