Woman accused of injuring former Pete Zack Kassian acquitted

MONTREAL — After two trials and four and a half years of proceedings, Alison De Courcy Ireland, who was accused of injuring former Peterborough Petes captain Zack Kassian, then a Montreal Canadiens player, in a car accident, was acquitted on Monday.

The mystery around the circumstances of the accident remains.

“You are acquitted. You are not guilty,” Andrew Barbacki told his client via video conference, passing along the decision of Judge Christian M. Tremblay.

“Oh! Thank you,” De Courcy Ireland said, realizing that her nightmare of the past five years was finally over.

De Courcy-Ireland’s case had caused a stir at the start of the new season for the Habs in October 2015.

Kassian, a newly acquired member of the team, was injured in curious circumstances. In the early hours of the morning, the player was returning from a party with two women when his vehicle hit a tree in the Notre-Dame-de-Grâce borough.

A year later, De Courcy-Ireland was charged with causing injuries to Kassian from driving while intoxicated.

Kassian — who played for the Petes for 2 1/2 seasons from 2008 to 2010, serving as captain in his final season until being traded to his hometown Windsor Spitfires — ultimately never played for Montreal and was traded to the Edmonton Oilers, where he has enjoyed a successful career alongside Connor McDavid.

At the first trial, in the winter of 2019, the second woman who was in the vehicle at the time of the accident said that Kassian had fallen asleep at the wheel.

The two women then allegedly moved him to the back seat of the vehicle, and De Courcy-Ireland continued driving. Kassian, however, said he had not driven, as he had used drugs and consumed alcohol during the party.

The conflicting accounts ultimately had no bearing on the verdict, as Tremblay acquitted the 26-year-old on a legal subtlety.

An hour and a half after the accident, De Courcy-Ireland’s blood alcohol level was above the legal limit of 117 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood (0.117).

Usually, such a test allows the Crown to establish that a driver was also intoxicated at the time of the accident, without further evidence.

At the time, however, an accused was entitled to obtain their certificate of analysis within six months to allow them to analyze a second blood sample.

De Courcy-Ireland did not receive her certificate until 16 months later.

As a result, the prosecution could no longer “assume” that the defendant was intoxicated during the accident based on her blood test, the judge ruled.

A second trial was necessary because of the judge’s absence due to illness from the first trial. Sylvie Dulude represented the Crown.