A 23-year-old man was sentenced to four years in prison, plus six years driving prohibition on Monday for an impaired driving crash that killed a 25-year-old man in the city’s east end back in 2014.
Matthew Habte pleaded guilty in March to impaired driving causing the death of Cassius Richards.
Habte had some drinks at dinner on the night of Nov. 24, 2014 when he then got into his vehicle and began driving home.
At Habte’s sentencing hearing on May 20, Defence lawyer Edward Prutschi told the courtroom that Habte was “speeding” “drunk” and “attempted to run a red light” when the crash took place.
In the courtroom on May 30, it was revealed that Habte had given one breath sample two hours after the crash. He had 136 milligrams of alcohol in his system per 100 milliliters of blood. He did not give a second sample, with his mother’s advice, and was also charged for refusing.
At the time of the crash, a forensic scientist estimated Habte had between 130 and 180 milligrams of alcohol in his system.
Prutschi said that Habte had no intention to cause anyone harm and described how Habte rushed to Richards’ car to help “immediately” after the crash.
“He has his hands in Mr. Richards’ hands. There’s nothing he can do, but he’s trying by sheer force of will to undo the damage he has caused,” he said at the hearing.
“There isn’t a single person who ever gets into a car drunk wanting to kill somebody. The vast majority of people who get charged with this offence are exactly like Mr. Habte. They are good people who make a bad decision.”
Justice Maria Speyer made a point of calling the incident a collision in court.
"An accident is something that cannot be prevented,” she said. “This tragedy was entirely preventable and was caused solely by Mr. Habte choosing to drive while his ability to do so was impaired by alcohol.”
Richards’ mother Odette Parsons was happy about the sentence. She said, “I know this feeling will never go away, but today I feel a little bit of peace in my heart."
Her daughter, LaToya Garcia, said “I hope that young people see that it's not a game, it's not a joke. You're not invincible, you're not immune, you can hurt somebody, hurt yourself and there is consequences to your actions. So I'm hoping that this kind of sets an example for people every time they're thinking about drinking and driving."
Outside the courtroom, Parsons said she felt badly for Habte’s mother.
"I felt very sorry for her. This might be weird, but I felt it for her because I'm a mother, just like her," she said.
