Court of Appeal for Ontario

Citation: R. v. Regier, 2011 ONCA 557 Date: 2011-08-19 Docket: C53173

Between: Her Majesty the Queen (Respondent) and Douglas Wayne Regier (Appellant)

Before: Feldman, Blair and Watt JJ.A.

Counsel: Matthew T. McGarvey, for the appellant Nadia Thomas, for the respondent

Heard and released orally: July 29, 2011 On appeal from the sentence imposed on April 1, 2010, by Justice T. Ray of the Superior Court of Justice.

Endorsement

[1] The appellant appeals his sentence of six years’ imprisonment imposed by Justice Ray on two counts of dangerous driving causing death and one count of dangerous driving causing bodily harm.

[2] We see no error in principle on the part of the sentencing judge and do not accept that the range in such cases is restricted to two to five years. As this court noted in R. v. Boukchev (2003), 177 O.A.C., at para. 6, “sentences have tended to increase in severity for these types of offences because of the heightened recognition of the need for general deterrence and protection of the public”. See also R. v. Junkert (2010), 2010 ONCA 549, 103 O.R. (3d) 284 (C.A.), at para. 40.

[3] Here, two young people were killed, and the driver of another vehicle seriously injured. The trial judge was justified on the record in characterising the appellant’s driving as “aggressive” and his manoeuvring as “grossly unsafe”. The appellant has a lengthy driving record involving 25 Highway Traffic Act convictions over a period of 28 years and indeed was charged with careless driving in another incident near the place of this accident on the same highway within two years following this accident. Further, the trial judge did not err in our view in assessing the application of the principles of remorse in the sentencing context.

[4] In all the circumstances, then, we are satisfied that the sentence imposed of 6 years was not unfit. Leave to appeal sentence is granted, but the sentence appeal is dismissed.

“K. Feldman J.A.” “R.A. Blair J.A.” “David Watt J.A.”