8 months in jail for driving in opposite direction on highway while intoxicated and causing fatal collision

A motorist who caused a serious collision on Highway 640 in 2020 while driving in the opposite direction while completely intoxicated received an eight-month prison sentence.

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In the middle of the night on November 12, 2020, Karin Barrett started driving in the eastbound lanes of the 640 in Boisbriand on Montreal’s North Shore. However, she traveled west against the traffic jam.

A 44-year-old woman with twice the legal limit in her blood caused a violent collision with a vehicle she was normally traveling in.

“The meaning is the position in which she finds herself […] “She didn’t know how to react adequately when she realized her mistake, and she didn’t have all the means at her disposal that might have allowed her to avoid harm,” Judge Eric Cote recently summed up at the Palais de Justice in Saint-Jérôme. .

While the at-fault driver escaped unscathed, the occupant of the other vehicle was not so lucky and suffered serious injuries. The Sûreté du Québec later indicated that extraction pliers were necessary to extract him from the vehicle.

The victim was hospitalized for three weeks, where she underwent surgery for multiple fractures to her pelvis, ribs and leg. She had to relearn how to eat and walk.

The bodybuilder, who can no longer practice his profession, “has no words to express his pain and says he believes he is losing his mind,” he said in a letter read to the court.

The injured driver “felt like a ghost in his body and lost his humanity. She feels a part of her is missing,” she continued.

Error of judgment

Karin Barrett pleaded guilty to driving causing injury in September 2022.

Photo taken from Karine Barrette’s Facebook account

If the accused realizes his responsibility, according to the pre-sentence statement, he justifies his actions with “incitement”.

Judge Cote instead described his actions as a “gross error of judgment”.

“Imprisonment should be the only appropriate punishment to express society’s disapproval of the conduct of the accused or to discourage similar conduct in the future,” he clarified.

Upon her release from prison, Karin Barrett will have to serve a year of probation and will not be able to drive for another two years.

In this case, M. as the government representative^e Alexis Faust-Trahan asked for an 18-month sentence. Advocate M^e Daniela Valentia, for her part, hoped to receive an intermediate sentence of 90 days.