After Gander acquittal, legal loopholes need to be fixed, MADD says

In 2019 John and Sandra Lush were killed in a highway accident, their daughter seriously injured, and a fourth person in the car left paralyzed from the waist down.

Nicholas Villeneuve, then 22, was accused of impaired driving causing death, but was acquitted Monday morning on all eight charges after the Crown's key evidence was thrown out.

The judge in the case decided that Villeneuve's charter rights were violated.

"Right now there's no justice for the families or for the victims," saidPatricia Hynes-Coates, president of MADD Canada's Newfoundland and Labrador chapter, following the decision.

She said that the outcome is devastating.

"We just hope that there will be some accountability, that there will be some changes in the future that will stop the outcome that happened today."

Hynes-Coates lost her stepson, Nick Coates, in 2013 following a motorcycle collision with a drunk driver. She said she understands the level of devastation the families arefeeling.

"Words cannot describe the heartache and the pain that a family feels when they lose someone to an impaired driving crash in such a tragic and preventable way," Hynes-Coates said.

WATCH | Patricia Hynes-Coates says families are devastated by Monday's verdict:

'It's heartbreaking and it's tragic and it's devastating': MADD activist speaks out on Gander acquittal

4 years ago

Duration 4:46

The collapse of an impaired driving case in Gander is tough to accept, Patricia Hynes-Coates tells Here & Now's Jane Adey

While the acquittal is distressing for victims and their families, she said, there are options for recourse, by appealing the decision or taking it to civil court.

Impaired driving still rampant in province, says president

In the meantime, Hynes-Coates said MADD will continue to dig its heels in and focus on legislative changes to stop what she called loopholes.

"This is why my husband and I have been involved in public policy since the day we buried Nicholas;it's because changes have to be made. This is one more loophole, one more injustice that has happened that needs to change," Hynes-Coates said.

Some of those public policy changes include work on the provincial Fatal Accident Act. Hynes-Coates saidshe and MADD are working closely with the government to ensure acquittals like this don't happen again.

"The organization will be looking at this very closely, and we will work with the provincial and federal government to try to prevent this from happening, provided they're willing to make these changes," she said, and noted that while charter rights need to be upheld, they also need to be altered to be more inclusive.

While many of the reasons for the case's outcome are still unclear the specifics of the evidence, and the reason for its exclusion, are covered by a publication ban said Hynes-Coates, she hopes people will understand that impaired driving is still a problem in the province, and that drunk driving is a choice with devastating consequences.

"Impaired driving is still rampant in our province, in our country. It has to stop," said Hynes-Coates. "If you choose to use drugs, if you choose to use alcohol, that's your choice but don't get behind the wheel. Driving is a privilege, it's not a right, and we need to all be accountable for what we're doing."

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