The parents of a 24-year-old young mother who was left in a field after a fatal attack did not hide their anger on Tuesday at the reduced sentence given to the driver five years later.
“There’s nothing fair about this,” Caroline Martel’s mother, Caroline Pelletier, told the court about the 30-month prison sentence that is expected to be imposed soon for Jimmy Bergeron Lessard.
On Tuesday, the 36-year-old pleaded guilty at the Trois-Rivières courthouse to negligently causing death while operating a motor vehicle.
Alcohol and drugs
The play was performed on the evening of September 2, 2019.
Ms. Martel and Bergeron Lessard went to a bar in Sainte-Clothilde-de-Horton in Centre-du-Québec.
Alcohol and drug use then followed with friends, according to the summary of facts.
At around 10:30 pm, both of them decided to return.
Caroline Martel, the victim.
Etiquette
When a friend asked him to look after the young woman he was accompanying in his sports car, Bergeron Lessard replied: “No problem, I know my tank very well.”
However, on the fourth lap at Saint-Samuel, where he was driving at high speed, the driver who had accumulated nearly thirty demerit points since obtaining his licence, missed a turn.
treated worse than a dog
His car overturned, throwing its occupants out, before ending up in a field.
Instead of helping Ms. Martel, who died instantly, or calling the authorities, Bergeron Lessard cowardly fled the scene.
He was arrested early in the morning, after being reported by an acquaintance.
“Left alone in a field. We don’t even do that to a dog we just killed,” the victim’s father, Jocelyn Martel, wrote in a letter read in court.
In addition to being angry with the man he calls “trash,” Mr. Martel is upset that he didn’t recognize his mistakes sooner.
“He was the one who used every means available to delay the process as much as possible,” he wrote. “And the punishment he will get is… 27 months. I understand he has rights, but to what extent and at what cost?”
Orphan
In his letter, the bereaved father also thought of his granddaughter, now an orphan, following the death of her father from a brain tumour last February.
“At that age we all needed mom and dad in our lives. What impact will this tragedy have on him? she asked herself.
On the day of the accident the little girl had just started her first year.
In addition, Bergeron Lessard, who has approximately fifteen criminal counts against him, stressed through his attorney that he needs to mourn the loss of his “friend” before going to prison.
His file should return next November for confirmation of the sentence proposed by the parties.
“Only you have the power to change it deal», Jocelyn Martel argued to the judge who will have to decide.