His wife killed by the logs he was transporting: two years in prison for a trucker

A trucker from the Laurentians involved in a road accident which cost the life of his wife, fatally struck by the logs of wood he was transporting, was recently sentenced to two years in prison.

“That day, you not only took my daughter’s life, you shattered our lives and especially her daughter’s. I will never be able to forgive you,” Monique Nault, Karina Paquette’s mother, recently said at the Mont-Laurier courthouse.

The 39-year-old woman died in June 2019, in an accident that occurred on a curve on Chemin de Parent, linking La Tuque to Mont-Laurier.

M^me Paquette was then sleeping in the bunk of the truck driven by her partner, Israel Proulx.

The trucker pleaded guilty last summer to criminal negligence causing death.

This is because Proulx, 45 years old, had only installed two of the seven regulatory fasteners on his trailer filled with logs. He had also falsified his logbook, frequently called logbookin order to continue driving.

“Know that I have been mad at you for a long, long time. But today with hindsight I realized that it was not worth it,” Karina Paquette’s daughter, now 15 years old, told the court.

The teenager now has to deal with severe depression and generalized anxiety disorder.

Balanced Sentence

Monique Nault, for her part, insisted that “there will never be a sentence long enough to compensate” for the loss of her daughter.

“That said, justice being the one we have in Canada, we consider that the sentence is a good balance between the objectives of denunciation and deterrence,” explained the Crown prosecutor, Mr.^e Jean-Michel Baril.

According to the Sûreté du Québec reconstructionist, “a human factor and speed” were involved in the accident.

“Me and her had always had a bit of a crazy, day-to-day relationship. We were like carefree children. Who knows, maybe we liked the danger, the unexpected, the ups and downs of life,” defended the accused a few minutes before being sentenced to two years in prison and 18 months’ probation.

Judge Nancy McKenna said she was perplexed by Proulx’s explanations, which “seem to indicate that this was a knowingly shared adventure.”

Israel Proulx, who has a history of theft, will not be able to drive for the duration of his probation.