‘I often cry myself to sleep’: Drunk driver sentenced to 31/2 years for fatal crash

The drunk driver of a Jeep that smashed into an oncoming car as he drove the wrong way on Highway 2 said Wednesday he’s racked by guilt over his victim’s death.

Cody James Uhrich said he wishes his victim, Sabrina FestaOliveira, and not him, had walked away from the deadly crash nearly two years ago.

“To the family of Sabrina, the night of the accident echoes through my mind ... almost every moment,” Uhrich said, shortly before provincial court Judge Marlene Graham sentenced him to 42 months in a federal prison.

“I often cry myself to sleep,” he said. “I hope one day I can find a way to make amends.”

Uhrich, 35, pleaded guilty in January to impaired driving causing death in connection with the Sept. 29, 2016, crash about six kilometres north of High River.

When Uhrich entered the highway from a side road, he turned into the southbound lanes and began driving northbound.

Two oncoming vehicles tried to warn him of his error before he collided head-on with the car being driven by Festa- Oliveira, 19.

Festa-Oliveira was killed on impact, as Uhrich’s Jeep travelled over the top of her Mazda 3, became airborne and rolled into the centre grass median, ejecting him from the vehicle.

When police arrived, Uhrich was already on a spine board and insisted he was driving in his own lane.

A blood sample was later taken

from him at Foothills Hospital and a toxicologist with the RCMP estimated his blood/alcohol concentration at the time of the crash to be between 205 and 249 milligrams of alcohol per 100 mL of blood.

The legal driving limit is 80 mg. Defence counsel Alain Hepner, in joining Crown prosecutor Jillian Pawlow for a joint recommendation of a 3 1/2-year sentence, said his client was extremely remorseful.

“The remorse is significant, it is not remorse for getting the best sentence,” he told Graham.

Pawlow said a significant punishment was required to deter others from getting behind the wheel after drinking.

Graham noted the effect on the victim’s parents has been devastating, as evidenced in a victimimpact statement they provided to the court.

“Sabrina was the biggest gift that a man and woman could ever have,” they wrote.

“You on the other hand have been given a gift, a gift of second chance, you will see the sun come up and go down, you will have the pleasure of sitting at the dinner table and talking, laughing and experiencing everything that life has to offer during precious moments.

“We don’t have that anymore, we won’t see her, we won’t hear her, we won’t experience her life.”