“Alcohol and speed: this explosive cocktail will have been fatal. This is a tragedy that could have been avoided. Which should have been avoided,” said judge Julie-Maude Greffe. After hearing the moving testimonies of relatives of a teenager struck down by a drunk driver, the judge sentenced Cheryl Ann Boucher to seven years in detention on Tuesday.
“Like you, I had tears in my eyes… [the teenager’s] promising life was gone. Those of his entourage have been capsized forever,” confided Judge Greffe, visibly shaken, at the end of an extremely emotional hearing in a room full of bereaved relatives at the Longueuil courthouse.
Cheryl Ann Boucher, a 35-year-old resident of Chambly, pleaded guilty Tuesday to causing the death of a 15-year-old boy by driving a vehicle while impaired by alcohol and drugs. She also admitted to injuring another minor and to conspiring to traffic drugs.
A publication ban prevents us from identifying the killed teenager and his seriously injured minor friend.
Cheryl Ann Boucher was drunk and under the influence of drugs when she drove on October 15, 2022 to go to Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu. His blood alcohol level was more than twice the legal limit, 0.205 (205 mg of alcohol/100 ml of blood).
In addition, Cheryl Ann Boucher was driving at breakneck speed in the middle of a work zone on Chemin Sainte-Thérèse in Carignan: between 110 km/h and 120 km/h in a 40 km/h zone. It was in this context that the driver hit the moped in which two teenagers were traveling at high speed (which is prohibited by the Road Safety Code).
While the 15-year-old passenger survived, the driver was out of luck. A life wasted unnecessarily.
“You stole all our dreams and destroyed me. […] By taking the life of my child, you took the lives of other people. Remember, he was only 15,” the deceased’s mother testified, upset.
His mother described a boy who was “sensitive, smiling, sporty and attentive.” A teenager loved by everyone.
Many of the teenager’s relatives took to the stand. Everyone paid tribute to a “unifying” teenager full of projects.
“Why did you do that? Aren’t there enough campaigns on drugs, alcohol and speeding in construction zones? “, asked the cousin of the deceased.
Cheryl Ann Boucher seems to have been touched by his testimonies. In the dock, she tearfully presented her “sincere apologies”. “I am aware that my actions have caused immense suffering. Remorse invades me. I keep replaying the images of this tragedy,” she said. She now wants to help raise awareness in society about the ravages of drunk driving.
The judge finally approved the joint suggestion of seven years of detention presented by Crown prosecutor Me Marie-Soleil Leclerc and the defense lawyer. Upon her release from prison, Cheryl Ann Boucher will be barred from operating a motor vehicle for 10 years.
