Woman charged with crashing ex-Canadien’s truck awaits verdict
The woman charged with injuring hockey player Zack Kassian by crashing his truck into a tree during his very short stint with the Montreal Canadiens will learn her fate in three months.
After having heard evidence and arguments over the course of three days at the Montreal courthouse this week, Quebec Court Judge Denis Mondor announced he will deliberate until May 3 before he delivers his decision on the two impaired-driving charges Alison De Courcy Ireland, 23, faces in connection with the crash in Notre-Dame-de-Grâce.
On Oct. 4, 2015, a Ford F-350 truck that was loaned to Kassian by a dealership slammed into a tree just before 6 a.m. at the corner of Clanranald Ave. and CôteSt-Luc Rd.
When Montreal police officers arrived, they found De Courcy Ireland and another woman, Gemma Brown, waiting outside the heavily damaged vehicle.
Kassian, who had just joined the Canadiens and had yet to play in a regular-season game with the team, was found in the lobby of a nearby building, his clothes and body covered with blood.
His nose and one of his feet were broken in the crash.
Kassian, who was traded to the Edmonton Oilers shortly after it happened, testified on Monday and said he got a contact number for the women from a teammate on the Montreal Canadiens, but he couldn’t recall which one.
He admitted to having consumed cocaine and alcohol at his condo while both women were present and that he was very intoxicated when they left and climbed into his truck.
He also claimed he never got behind the wheel of the vehicle. He testified that he climbed into the back seat and fell asleep.
That part of his testimony was later contradicted by Brown, who said Kassian got behind the wheel of his vehicle and fell asleep before De Courcy Ireland took over the wheel.
Despite the glaring contradiction, while making her closing arguments on Thursday, prosecutor Sylvie Dulude still described Kassian as a credible witness.
“He didn’t try to mislead the court,” Dulude said, while arguing his memories were affected by his state of intoxication. “He admitted he was heavily intoxicated by drugs and alcohol.”
The prosecutor also noted that Brown’s claim that De Courcy Ireland was behind the wheel of the truck when it crashed was not contradicted by Kassian’s testimony and that it was supported by physical evidence.
One of the first police officers who arrived at the scene noticed there was a lot of blood on the back seat (consistent with Kassian’s injuries) and there were traces of blood on the passenger seat (consistent with Brown’s injuries). No blood was found on the driver’s seat.
The truck crashed only one street from where De Courcy Ireland resided at the time in the Côte-desNeiges—Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough. She has since moved to New Brunswick.
Dulude’s closing arguments and a rebuttal from defence lawyer Andrew Barbacki focused heavily on the moment when blood samples were taken from De Courcy Ireland to determine how impaired she was at the time. Tests done on the samples revealed her blood-alcohol level was 117 mg of alcohol per 100 ml of blood. The legal limit in impaired driving cases in Canada is 80 mg of alcohol.
Barbacki noted the blood samples were taken after 7:30 a.m. on the morning in question, at least 90 minutes after the crash.
The attorney argued the tests are not evidence of how impaired De Courcy Ireland was when the truck crashed.
Barbacki said the Crown produced no evidence of what the accused drank, or when. He said it left open the possibility that she consumed a few drinks just before the crash and only felt the effects of the drinks by the time the samples were taken.
He didn’t try to mislead the court. He admitted he was heavily intoxicated by drugs and alcohol.