The three sisters of the young woman caught dead on Sunday morning by a drunk driver want to make her face known to “change mentalities” and illustrate the shock wave suffered by a family during such an inconceivable tragedy.
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“Spreading his name, I think it will affect a lot of people and I hope it will change behavior, underlines in broad strokes at the end of the line, Yanick Houde Bastien, the youngest sister of the quartet. It is totally unfair.”
Very early Sunday morning, a real thunderclap shook an entire tight-knit family.
Fabienne Houde Bastien was returning from a bar where she had spent the evening with friends when she was fatally struck in an accident involving two vehicles, at the intersection of boulevard Saint-Laurent and rue Jean-Talon.
Photo Facebook Fabienne Houde Bastien
Fabienne Houde Bastien, 31, died after a possibly impaired man caused an accident early Sunday, May 21 in Montreal. This photo was posted on social media in March 2021.
A 47-year-old man, Vi Trung Ngo, is believed to be behind the tragedy. The motorist was charged with impaired driving causing death and bodily harm.
Pascal Girard/QMI AGENCY
Fabienne Houde Bastien was returning from an evening with friends very early on Sunday morning when she was snatched to death.
Not just a pedestrian
In the hours following the accident, parents, sisters and respective spouses all converged on the hospital, at the bedside of the 31-year-old young woman. They all really became aware of the seriousness of the event, and of the injuries sustained by Fabienne.
“For us, it is not a pedestrian. She’s our sister, she’s a daughter, an aunt, a friend, a colleague, assures Andréane, the eldest. We were all with her. We all agree that it did us a lot of good.”
Courtesy Yanick Houde Bastien
Fabienne Houde Bastien poses here with her three sisters and her mother. From left to right: Fabienne (mauve dress), Andréane (2nd floor), the mother, Brigitte (blue dress, in the middle), Jasmine (2nd floor), and Yanick (striped dress).
“It’s hard to believe it, but if we hadn’t seen it, it would have been impossible to believe it,” adds Yanick.
For more than 4 hours, they were able to “touch her, be around her, talk to her”, continues the youngest.
Cycling or walking
The one who worked in human resources thus lived her last moments less than a ten-minute walk from her house, a mode of transport deeply rooted in her daily life.
“Fabienne is a walker, she is an athlete. Either she could walk or take the BIXI, those were her two options. She didn’t drive, she never drove. She has always been afraid of cars,” insists Yanick.
“For her, walking in the evening is normal,” she adds.
But now it’s in the neighborhood she loved, Little Italy, that her destiny abruptly came to an end.
Photo Laurent Lavoie / JdeM
A small poster and flowers were placed in memory of the pedestrian fatally struck Sunday morning in Montreal by a driver who is accused of having had impaired abilities.
Mindsets
Fabienne Houde Bastien is part of the long list of people who died on the roads of Quebec this weekend.
“We can’t hammer it into people’s heads enough to be careful when you’re behind the wheel,” says Jasmine, the second oldest in the quartet.
Finally, to ensure the safety of pedestrians, “we will have to change mentalities”, she pleads.
Pascal Girard/QMI AGENCY
The possibly dangerous driving of Vi Trung Ngo would have led to this violent collision, Sunday morning, in Montreal.
