An Onoway woman will spend her weekends behind bars for injuring a woman nearly two years ago in an alcohol-fuelled collision.
Colleen G. Stackhouse, 50, was handed a 90-day jail sentence to be served on weekends. She was placed on probation for two years and is prohibited from driving for five years.
“I’m very truly sorry for my actions and I’m doing my best to fix them,” Stackhouse said, wiping tears from her eyes.
In the early evening of Dec. 23, 2010, Stackhouse was travelling northbound on Highway 44 when she struck a southbound vehicle while attempting to make a left turn onto Villeneuve Road.
The driver of the southbound vehicle suffered multiple rib fractures, a sternum fracture, a knee injury and a possible spleen laceration.
Investigators on the scene detected an odour of alcohol and requested Stackhouse provide a breath sample. Her blood alcohol concentration was more than three times the legal limit, at 0.270.
Crown prosecutor John Donahoe was seeking a nine- to 12-month jail term with two years probation.
Defence lawyer Robert Shaigec was seeking a 90-day intermittent jail sentence with a “lengthy and significant” term of probation.
Stackhouse has a prior impaired driving conviction dating back to 2004, for which she was handed a $600 fine and a one-year driving prohibition.
Shaigec argued that his client has taken steps to deal with her alcohol addiction, adding she attended three treatment programs between July and September 2011.
“I would suggest she’s taken significant steps with addressing a lifelong problem,” he said, adding she regularly attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in Onoway.
He said she has only consumed alcohol on three occasions since receiving treatment: she drank wine on Mother’s Day, New Year’s Day and at a wedding.
She will begin her sentence this Friday at the Edmonton Remand Centre and is ordered to abstain from drugs and alcohol, provide blood or urine samples when required to do so, attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and attend counselling as directed by a probation officer.
