A driver who killed a 15-year-old girl while racing madly on the highway after having consumed both drugs and alcohol will have to spend four and a half years in the penitentiary, a judge has just ordered, deploring the “inconceivable” behavior of the accused.
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“He was driving between 160 and 200 km/h on a Saturday at the very beginning of the evening, he was weaving between lanes, including the shoulder… alcohol and drugs were on the menu. His temerity and recklessness are inconceivable, he showed blatant irresponsibility,” commented scathingly, Judge Jean-Jacques Gagné, this Thursday, at the Montreal courthouse.
Four people were injured when vehicles collided on Highway 40, near Saint-Charles Boulevard, in the west of the island of Montreal, on March 20, 2021.THIERRY LAFORCE / AGENCE QMI
Thierry Laforce/QMI Agency
Sitting in the courtroom with his head bowed with a small bag containing his personal effects for his stay in prison, Montrealer Francis Lawrence did not say a word while the magistrate recounted the crime he committed in March 2021 .
They were playing cat and mouse
That day, the 29-year-old driver went to a car rally in Laval in his shiny Audi A3. Except that the arrival of the police made everyone leave, including Lawrence’s group, which moved to the west of Montreal. Except that again, the police showed up, scaring away the people who had gathered in Vaudreuil-Dorion. The group then met on the island of Montreal, near the intersection between highways 15 and 40.
“They were playing cat and mouse so as not to be spotted by the police,” explained the judge.
Except that on the way to the last gathering place, a collision occurred. Following not far behind, the driver of the vehicle in which 15-year-old Veronica Gashi was traveling stopped to provide assistance to the other participants in the group.
Veronica Gashi, 15, lost her life in a collision on Highway 40 in Montreal on March 20, 2021 when at least three vehicles were involved in a street race.
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That’s where Lawrence arrived, driving like crazy, zigzagging between motorists. He then hit a vehicle, which then hit the vehicle where the teenager was. The latter had no chance of survival, while two people in Lawrence’s Audi were seriously injured. The accused also had to be sent to hospital.
Grief
After pleading guilty to reduced charges of dangerous driving causing death and injury to two other people, Lawrence expressed remorse, although he claims to remember nothing.
Those close to young Veronica Gashi, for their part, spoke of the pain of losing a loved one.
“The court was able to see the extent of their grief, the immense void left by the departure [de la défunte]», Underlined the judge, emphasizing the importance of sending a strong message to drivers who think that the road belongs to them, to the detriment of other motorists.
He therefore rejected Ms.’s suggestion.e Mustapha Mahmoud, who suggested two years less a day of incarceration. Instead, he imposed four and a half years in prison, barely six months less than what Mr.e Sylvie Dulude of the Crown.
Francis Lawrence.
Photo from court file
And once released from prison, Lawrence will not be able to drive for four years.