Bodnarchuk sentenced to three years in impaired driving death case

Jail time has been imposed for the man responsible for an impaired-driving fatality on Highway 4 north of the city last December.

Randy Bodnarchuk was sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary Wednesday for causing death with a blood alcohol of over 80 mg. 

He also received a five-year driving prohibition after his jail term and a DNA sample was also ordered.

Judge Dan O’Hanlon handed down the sentence in North Battleford Provincial Court Wednesday morning. Sentencing submissions by the Crown and defence, as well as victim impact statements, were presented to the court a week earlier. At that time Judge O’Hanlon adjourned the decision to the following week in order to consider his sentence. 

The case stemmed from Dec. 10 from last year when a fatal collision took place on Highway 4 north of North Battleford during the morning hours. The collision claimed the life of Karen East, 54.

East had been driving to her employment at Elk Point Drilling and was turning right, with her right signals on, when her vehicle was struck from behind by a Dodge Truck driven by Bodnarchuk, age 24.

According to facts of the case outlined in court, there had been a number of calls that morning about erratic driving on Highway 4.

Bodnarchuk had been driving southbound and travelling at a high rate of speed. He passed a school bus and then made a u-turn in front of oncoming traffic, returning northbound.

The vehicle almost lost control and nearly hit the ditch a couple of times, according to the facts outlined by the Crown.

The collision with the minivan happened around 8:30 a.m. The Crown reported, officers observed Bodnaruk had slurred speech and glassy eyes. Breath samples were taken and Bodnarchuk’s blood sample results showed a blood alcohol level of 16 mg, twice the legal limit.

The traffic reconstructionist concluded Bodnarchuk was travelling at an estimated 142 km/h when the collision occurred, well above the 100 km/h speed limit.  

This summer, Bodnarchuk entered a guilty plea to impaired driving over 80 mg causing death.

The sentencing hearing was an emotional one, with members of the Bodnarchuk and the East families in attendance. Several victim impact statements were filed on behalf of the victims’ family. Four of them were tearfully read out loud in court by family and friends of East during sentencing submissions Sept. 8.

Bodnarchuk himself had written an apology and also gave a verbal apology in court that day, saying he was sorry to the family.

Crown and defence counsel had made separate submissions on how long Bodnarchuk’s sentence should be. The Crown had called for a range of four to- five years in jail. The defence called for three years.  

In imposing sentence, Judge O’Hanlon pointed to an early guilty plea and expressions of remorse by Bodnarchuk as mitigating factors. But aggravating factors included the fatality, the fact he was driving erratically and at twice the legal blood-alcohol limit and exceeding the speed limit at the time of the collision.

He relied on case law and noted the facts in the case of R. vs. Ross, a Saskatchewan Court of Appeal case from 2013, in which the high court had indicated a sentence of three to four years might have been in order. 

Bodnarchuk’s three-year sentence will be served in a federal penitentiary and the driving prohibition begins after that term ends.

Following O’Hanlon’s decision Wednesday, Bodnarchuk was immediately placed in custody and led away to serve his jail sentence.