Victims' needs keep hit-and-run driver out of jail
Published Saturday July 4th, 2009
SAINT JOHN - In sentencing Christopher John Gallant last month for an April 17 hit-and-run on Chesley Drive, provincial court Judge Anne Jeffries said her first inclination was to simply put him behind bars and say, "So bad, so sad. See ya."
But after giving it some more thought, she added, she factored in the needs of two female victims of the collision who the court heard are still suffering emotionally and financially as a result of the crash.
"Why should they have to be out money for something you caused?" she asked.
She then sentenced Gallant to a pair of four-month consecutive sentences, to be served in the community, on charges of dangerous driving and evading an officer by failing to stop a motor vehicle. That way, Jeffries said, he will be free to pay off the total $3,400 in restitution she ordered him to make to his victims.
The judge also prohibited Gallant from driving for 18 months and placed him on 60 days of house arrest.
The accused had pleaded guilty earlier to four charges, but Jeffries adjourned sentencing the other two - leaving the scene of an accident and a probation violation - until 1:30 p.m. on Oct. 7 in order to see how much progress Gallant has made in fulfilling the restitution order.
She warned him if he hasn't made a real effort to pay it off, "It's not going to be very good (for you)."
Following sentencing, Gallant turned in the direction of the victims at the back of courtroom and offered an apology to them, seated there, although he said he knew it didn't mean that much.
"No, it doesn't," one of them said.
Crown prosecutor Chris Titus noted that Gallant had been quoted in a pre-sentence report prepared for the court as saying, "I'm not really a criminal, but I made a bad mistake."
Titus said he begged to differ with the accused, adding, "His actions on that day were criminal in nature€¦He's lucky he didn't kill people."
Titus also noted that one victim, a young mother of three, is still unable to interact normally with her kids.
He said Gallant deserved to go to jail, but barring that maybe there was a way he could be made to pay the $250 deductible for repairs to the vehicle the victims were travelling in and $1,000 to $1,500 for babysitting.
The court also heard that Gallant has, since the accident, undergone treatment at Ridgewood Addiction Services, is a dependable worker and has a large support network, including his employer.
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so he damaged her brain and all he has to pay is $250 for the deductible?
doesn't make sense.
"Titus also noted that one victim, a young mother of three, is still unable to interact normally with her kids"
so he damaged her brain and all he has to pay is $250 for the deductible?
What makes you think she has brain-damage.....perhaps its a muscle issue and she can't play with them or pick them up......that would make a little more sense.