Emma Czornobaj gets 90 days in jail for duck-stopping deaths
Judge allows Quebec woman to serve jail time on weekends but will also be banned from driving for 10 years
A Quebec Superior Court judge sentenced Emma Czornobaj to 90 days in jail today for causing two deaths after stopping on the highway to rescue ducklings.
The 26-year-old woman from the Montreal suburb of Châteauguay will also be prohibited from driving for 10 years and must perform 240 hours of community service.
Czornobaj's lawyer said she plans to appeal the driving ban.
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In July, Czornobaj was convicted of two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing death in the 2010 deaths of André Roy, 50, and his 16-year-old daughter, Jessie.
The woman had stopped her car in the left-hand lane of a provincial highway in Candiac, south of Montreal, to help the ducks cross the road.
Roy's motorcycle slammed into Czornobaj's car, killing him and his daughter, who was riding on the back.
The Crown had sought a sentence of nine months in jail and 240 hours of community service.
The defence agreed with the 240 hours of community service, but argued for a suspended sentence with three years of probation, saying there was no criminal intent on Czornobaj's part.
Czornobaj has filed an appeal of her conviction and publicly pleaded for clemency.
Pauline Volikakis, the wife and mother of the two victims, had said she wanted Czornobaj to get a sentence that reflects the gravity of her actions.
Victims' family says Czornobaj sentence serious enough to allow them to move on with their lives if not heal <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cbcmtl?src=hash">#cbcmtl</a> <a href="http://t.co/jy0T86fmUN">pic.twitter.com/jy0T86fmUN</a>
—@EmilyBrassA provincial police officer testified at the trial that Roy, whose speed was estimated to be from 113 km/h to 129 km/h when he applied his brakes, collided with Czornobaj's car at between 105 km/h and 121 km/h.
The jury was told the speed was higher than the prescribed 90 km/h limit on the road.
The trial heard that Czornobaj, who had three years of driving experience at the time, had stopped to rescue ducklings on the side of the road.
The professed animal lover told the court that she did not see the ducklings' mother anywhere and planned to capture them and take them home.
with files from The Canadian Press