CORNER BROOK — A Corner Brook man, who was “grossly intoxicated” when he injured a woman when he rear-ended her vehicle a year ago, was handed a jail sentence Wednesday.
Donald Claude Anstey, 33, blew readings of 320 and 350 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood — four times the legal limit — shortly after 10 on the morning he crashed into a woman stopped to enter her driveway on a city street. He was further distracted because he was using his cellphone prior to the accident.
Crown attorney Lori St. Croix and defence lawyer Scott Burden submitted a joint recommendation of a 90-day intermittent jail sentence to provincial court Judge Wayne Gorman.
Gorman accepted the joint submission and lectured Anstey on the seriousness of his crime, saying it was only a matter of luck he didn’t kill somebody.
The back injury suffered by the victim, a complication of a pre-existing injury, has left her life forever changed, according to the judge.
Anstey will serve his jail time from Friday to Monday each week. He is not permitted to drive for 18 months and was given probation for two years. A condition of his probation is he continue to receive counselling and treatment for what was described as a severe problem and dependency to alcohol.
He was not subjected to a prohibition from licenced liquor establishments or events to allow him to keep working in the industry. He was also not placed under an alcohol prohibition.
Hopefully this lowlife don't drag down the owner of a very successfull buisness on West Street. The young lady worked hard, to lose it all for some alcoholic bottom feeder.