By Keith Lacey
A Sudbury woman described as a wonderful teacher and person who engaged in some truly horrific and dangerous driving last fall was spared a jail sentence Wednesday.
Justice J.G. Lebel said once he considered all the aggravating and mitigating factors, it was his opinion Anne Laframboise, 48, would not reoffend and spared her a jail sentence after she pleaded guilty to drunk driving.
?The driving was horrendous, there?s no other way to describe it,? said Lebel in passing a sentence of a $2,000 fine and 18-month driving prohibition. ?It was through good luck, not good management that no one was seriously hurt or even killed.?
The aggravating factors included the fact Laframboise had more than three times the legal limit of alcohol in her system when she gave two breathalyser tests, she was drinking behind the wheel after being told by a family member not to drive and forced numerous drivers to take evasive action to avoid a collision, said Lebel.
The mitigating factors are her deep remorse, her solid record of community work, the fact this is her first criminal conviction, her plea of guilt and the fact the court accepts the accused was under heavy stress at the time as a result of being the sole caretaker for her father who was very ill with cancer, said Lebel.
?You?re a good person...and you have a burden not many of us have in being the sole provider and caretaker for a sick parent...and that is a heavy burden,? said Lebel.
?From what I?ve observed I think you have got the message and I don?t think we?ll be seeing you again...I?m not sending you to jail.?
Court heard that around 1 pm on Oct. 15, Lebel was heavily intoxicated when she left a residence in Timmins to drive back home to Sudbury. Not only was she told not to drive because she had been drinking, but she brought with her a large container of vodka and orange juice she kept drinking from once behind the wheel.
One man who followed her for 40 to 50 minutes, told police Laframboise?s new-model truck swerved repeatedly, slowed down and sped up repeatedly and on numerous occasions moved across the centre line forcing several oncoming cars to take evasive action and take to the shoulder to avoid a collision.
A second driver noticed the same horrific driving and at one point noticed the truck took out several guard rails along Highway 144.
A third driver, a retired police sergeant, also followed the truck and reported terrible driving where other drivers were forced to take evasive action.
The retired sergeant contacted police and they found Laframboise had pulled off Highway 144 onto another highway near Gogama.
She could barely walk and when she blew into a breathalyser machine an hour later, two readings indicated she then had more than three times the legal amount of alcohol allowed to drive in Canada in her system.
Defence counsel James Mason said Laframboise is a top-notch teacher at Cambrian College, who has gone out of her way inside and outside the classroom the past 16 years to help students not only achieve their goals, but get good jobs.
She has been taking care of her father for several years and turned to the bottle on this day because she was stressed out from work and her father?s illness, he said.
Laframboise is a ?good person? who knows what she did is wrong and endangered not only herself, but other innocent drivers, but she?s learned her lesson and a heavy fine and long driver?s suspension would serve as an adequate deterrent in this case, he said.
Assistant Crown attorney Fran Howe said the level of impairment and horrific driving in this case cry out for a jail sentence of 30 days and a long licence suspension.
?This was exceedingly bad behaviour to the extreme,? said Howe.
Laframboise should never have been driving in the first place, continued to drink alcohol behind the wheel and endangered numerous lives with her frightening driving, she said.
?I take no pleasure in asking for a jail sentence, but this was exceedingly high-risk behaviour,? said Howe.
