Frustrated judge hands drunk driver 51-month term

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 01/09/2022 (1358 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Manitoba man who initially claimed he was asleep in the back seat of his car during a drunk-driving collision that killed a Selkirk father of three admitted responsibility only after DNA seized from an airbag and other evidence put him squarely in the driver’s seat, a court has heard.

Tanner Hourie, 33, pleaded guilty to one count of impaired driving causing death and two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm in a Nov. 16, 2018, crash that killed 50-year-old Martin Robak. At a hearing last Thursday, Manitoba Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sheldon Lanchberry sentenced Hourie to 51 months in prison and prohibited him from driving for 10 years.

“In the strongest terms, these events were not an accident,” Lanchberry said. “I am painfully aware that no matter what my sentence is today, it will have very little impact on someone getting behind the wheel tonight or any night, and will not deter them from driving drunk, but I nonetheless will try to deter others.”

Both Hourie and Robak were behind the wheels of GMC Sierra pickup trucks driving in opposite directions along Highway 59 in the RM of St. Clements shortly before 8 p.m., when Hourie veered into the oncoming lane and collided with Robak’s vehicle, sending them both careening into the ditch.

Robak, who sustained severe injuries to his head, heart, ribs and spleen, died at the scene. His two passengers were taken to hospital with serious injuries.

Court heard paramedics found Hourie in the back seat of his crumpled vehicle and his brother Adam in the front passenger seat and had to use the Jaws of Life to remove them.

“In the strongest terms, these events were not an accident.”–Justice Sheldon Lanchberry

When questioned by police and paramedics at the scene and by Manitoba Public Insurance investigators a year later, Hourie claimed he had been sleeping in the back seat as a third, unidentified man drove his truck.

“We woke up in a big mess and I don’t know what happened,” Hourie told MPI. “The next thing I remember is being pulled out by paramedics or somebody.”

Blood samples taken by police and in hospital shortly after the collision showed Hourie had a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for driving.

Police could find no witnesses to support Hourie’s claim a third man had been driving his vehicle and “bailed and took off” after the collision, said Crown attorney Chris Vanderhooft, who recommended Lanchberry sentence Hourie to five years in prison.

A review of security video at the Sand Bar Motor Inn in Grand Marais showed Hourie and his brother arriving at the bar shortly after 6 p.m. that evening and leaving visibly intoxicated at about 7:30 p.m., just 20 minutes before the collision.

At one point in the security video, Hourie “appears to be almost asleep as he is standing, yet he got into a car,” Vanderhooft said.

“You destroyed my whole family, all because of your stupid choice.”–Robak’s daughter

Hourie suffered a seatbelt rash to his chest consistent with being in the driver’s seat at the time of the collision, Vanderhooft said. More than a year into the police investigation, an analysis of the deployed driver-side airbag confirmed Hourie as the “major contributor” of DNA found on it.

Vanderhooft downplayed the significance of Hourie’s guilty pleas, typically accepted as a sign of remorse, arguing they were entered on the eve of trial in the face of a strong Crown case.

“This is somebody who can’t get out of it anymore,” Vanderhooft said. “It’s an inevitable guilty plea.”

Robak’s two young daughters told court their father’s death has left a hole in their hearts that will never be filled.

“I wish I could hear one of his dumb jokes again so I could laugh with him one more time,” said Keely Robak, 15. “This has affected me more than you will ever know.… You will never be forgiven.”

“You destroyed my whole family, all because of your stupid choice,” said Robak’s youngest daughter, just eight years old when he was killed.

Hourie has no criminal record or history of driving offences, said defence lawyer Mike Cook, who described Hourie as a good person who made a bad choice.

“The problem is when you are drunk you aren’t thinking very well.”–Defence lawyer Mike Cook

“The problem is when you are drunk you aren’t thinking very well,” he said.

Cook said Hourie only recently disclosed his actions to his three children, telling them he wouldn’t be returning home from court.

“He told them he was drunk, he was driving his truck and he got into an accident and a man was killed,” Cook said. “I can’t imagine a more difficult discussion a man could have with his child… to talk about how morally reprehensible your act was and how criminal.”

Despite decades of public education and police enforcement efforts, the “carnage” of drunk driving continues, Lanchberry said.

“It’s trite to say (the incidence of) drinking and driving has improved in the past 40 years,” he said. “I’m sure the Robak family doesn’t believe that.… There’s a saying: ‘time heals all wounds.’ I’m never convinced it will in these circumstances.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca