A prosecutor is calling for a nine-month prison sentence as well as 240 hours of community work and a five-year ban on driving for Emma Czornobaj, who was convicted of Criminal Negligence Causing Death and Dangerous Driving Causing Death in June.
Czornobaj's lawyer argued, however, that she should only serve 240 hours of community service as punishment for an incident which saw two people die after Czornobaj stopped her car in the left lane of a busy roadway on the South Shore in order to help ducks.
A father and daughter died after the motorcycle they were on collided with the stationary vehicle.
The woman whose husband and daughter died in the accident spoke in court about her loss and accused Czornobaj of lacking remorse.
Czornobaj's lawyer attempted to present a petition with 17,000 signatures asking for leniency but the judge refused to accept it.
A sentence will be handed down on December 18.
During her trial, court heard that on June 27, 2010, Czornobaj had stopped her car on Highway 30 in Candiac, south of Montreal, to help a group of ducklings on the roadway.
Andre Roy was riding his motorcycle with his daughter Jessie on the back when he slammed into Czornobaj’s car. Roy died at the scene, while his 16-year-old daughter died later in hospital.
Roy’s wife, Pauline Volikakis, was riding her own motorcycle and also crashed into Czornobaj’s car. She suffered serious injuries.
During court proceedings in August, the defence had argued that Czornobaj did not have any criminal intent when she stopped her car.
At that time, a Quebec judge ruled that Czornobaj could appeal her convictions. Defence lawyer Marc Labelle said he wanted the Quebec Court of Appeal to review instances where, under Canadian law, a person who was not acting with criminal intent is convicted of a criminal offence.
