Man charged with impaired driving after crash that killed 2 people seeks release from jail

A Charlottetown man charged with causing the death of two people this summer, five months after his licence was suspended for a previous impaired driving conviction, is asking to be released from jail while the court case continues.

Thommachen Thomas Panackal was charged with two counts of impaired driving causing death and two counts of driving with over 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood causing death, all in relation to a single-vehicle crash in Albany in August.

The 25-year-old was also charged with driving with a suspended licence from a previous impaired driving conviction. In March, he was sentenced to four days in jail and prohibited from driving for a year.

Despite that ban, police said Panackal was driving with three other people in the vehicle when the crash happened on Aug. 2 near the Albany Y, where Highway 1 and Highway 1A meet. 

"As it was taking the off-ramp, the vehicle went off the road," RCMP spokesperson Scott Ferris said at the time. "It does appear the vehicle lost control, and it did roll over."

Dona Shaji, 23, was pronounced dead at the scene and 24-year-old Jugal Kishore Mehta later died of his injuries. The final occupant of the vehicle suffered non-life-threatening injuries, according to an RCMP news release issued when Panackal was charged.

Panackal has not yet entered pleas in the case, and his lawyer Brendan Hubley spoke on his behalf at a Summerside court appearance Wednesday. 

He said his client has been in jail ever since the new charges were laid, but will be seeking release while the case works its way through the court. Hubley will make arguments in support of that Thursday afternoon.

Regardless of what Judge Krista MacKay decides on that, Panackal has another court date on Nov. 6 — to decide whether his case will be heard at provincial court or the Supreme Court of Prince Edward Island.