Impaired boater who crashed gets 90 days
Crashing his boat into the breakwall at Belle River Marina last year cost an avid fisherman from Caledonia his girlfriend, his driver’s licence and, Thursday, his freedom. Stephen Elzinga, 35, was sentenced in a Windsor courtroom to 90 days in jail for the Nov. 11 crash that seriously injured his girlfriend who was his passenger on the craft. Elzinga was returning from a day on Lake St. Clair when he crashed his 18-foot boat full-throttle into the pier. His girlfriend was thrown face-first into the breakwall and had to be plucked from the water while the boat took on water nearby. The woman required reconstructive surgery on her face and Thursday wore dark glasses covering her scars. Elzinga proclaimed his ongoing love for the woman in a letter presented to the court at the start of his sentencing hearing. When Elzinga asked the judge if he could turn and address the woman, his former girlfriend shook her head “No.” Court heard the two had been dating for about five months at the time of the crash. Their relationship ended thereafter. Elzinga, a concrete worker, had three times the legal limit of alcohol in his bloodstream at the time of the crash. He said he fell asleep at the wheel.
Assistant Crown attorney Ilana Mizel asked the court to jail Elzinga for four months. “He put the safety of every other individual operating a vessel at that marina in jeopardy that day,” she said. Defence lawyer Evan Weber told the court his client understands he could have hurt more people or even killed someone. “Mr. Elzinga recognizes things could have been worse.” He asked the judge to sentence Elzinga to a month or two in jail.
Ontario court Justice Lloyd Dean, picking a sentence right in the middle of what the prosecution and defence suggested, expressed dismay that this would be only one of two serious drunk-driving cases he would preside over that day. “I just don’t understand why people do it,” Dean said. “Nothing seems to stop the carnage.” Dean tried to comfort Elzinga who seemed distraught over his former girlfriend’s reaction in court. “Sometimes it’s way too soon Mr. Elzinga,” Dean said to him. “You have to understand she has a right to have these feelings.”
He also addressed the woman, saying he appreciated the extent of her injures and that the sentence he imposed would bring her no comfort.
“I can’t get that back through any sentence,” Dean said. Elzinga, who pleaded guilty to driving with a blood-alcohol level above the legal limit, will lose his licence for a year. He must also pay a $200 surcharge — a mandatory fine that goes to fund programs to help victims of crime.