4-year sentence proposed for impaired driving ‘nightmare’ that killed 2 from Lennox Island
CBC
Lawyers representing the Crown and legal aid are asking a P.E.I. judge to send a Lennox Island woman to prison for just over four years for her impaired driving that killed two people in a June 2025 crash.
Kevin Labobe, 54, and Karissa-Jo Bernard, 22, were pronounced dead at the scene after the vehicle 22-year-old Angelina Bernard was driving left the road while the three were returning to the First Nations community.
The court previously heard her blood-alcohol reading was just under three times the legal limit.
“I lost my husband, Kevin, because someone chose to drive while impaired. That choice took away the person I love most in this world,” Judy Bernard wrote in a victim impact statement.
“Since losing him, my life has become something I barely recognize. I don’t feel like the same person anymore.”
Her statement was read aloud in court by her daughter during a sentencing hearing Wednesday afternoon in provincial court in Summerside.
Karissa Bernard’s sister Alyssa also read from the statement she submitted, noting that this incident has had a profound impact on everyone it touched — from the three families to the witnesses and first responders, as well as the ripple effects felt by the 715 community members who live on Lennox Island.
”Some carry grief, some carry trauma, some carry questions that will never have answers. But we all carry something,” she told Chief Judge Krista MacKay.
“Drinking and driving is not an accident. It is not bad luck. It is a choice. There are so many other decisions that could have been made that day.”
When Angelina Bernard pleaded guilty last month, the court heard that all three of the vehicle's occupants had blood-alcohol levels above the legal limit.
Angelina Bernard also chose to speak on Wednesday, stating that nothing she could say would bring back the two people who were killed.
“From the bottom of my heart, I am truly sorry.… It was supposed to be a fun day but it turned into a nightmare,” she told the packed courtroom while fighting back tears.
“Living with the memories of it all will be a punishment in and of itself.”
The Crown attorney and Angelina Bernard's legal aid lawyer asked the judge to consider their joint recommendation of 52 months in custody, which is a total of about four years and four months across four charges.
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