Prison time.
The family of Erin Vance, the mother of five year old twin boys killed by a drunk driver, leave the courtroom Friday morning. On Monday, Jeremy Rees was sentenced to five years in prison.
Step Willems
The drunk driver who killed a young mother near a Constance Bay bar last winter will face almost five years in prison.
Jeremy Rees sat impassively with his head hung low as Justice Celine Dorval handed down the sentence on Dec. 10: four years of imprisonment for impaired driving causing death; 11 months and 18 days for failure to remain at the scene; followed by a driver’s licence suspension of 10 years.
The crown asked for six years; the defence four. The Vance family indicated to media that they are fine with the judge’s sentence, but declined further comment. Twenty-six-year-old Erin Vance was struck by Rees’ car and flung some 32 metres away in the early morning hours of March 18. She was declared dead soon after. Rees fled the scene, turning himself in to police on March 19.
Figuring into Dorval’s decision was that Rees had been partying at various locations with friends all that day, St. Patrick’s Day, and didn’t seem fazed by it.
“The group was drinking and driving all day,” Dorval said. “Notwithstanding the constant and significant publicity with respect to drinking and driving, the attitude displayed is that of total disregard for the dangers created by impaired driving.”