Seeking justice for Patricia

Crown prosecutor Elise Maldemay asked Quebec Court Judge, Michel Mercier, to make an example of Hakim by imposing on him a 30-month prison sentence, while defence lawyer, Martin Pilotte, is seeking 15-18 months to be served in the community.

Hakim is charged in the November 29, 2006 car accident that has left Patricia Jolicoeur of St. Lazare with severe brain damage and permanent injuries.

She is blind in one eye and deaf in one ear. She cannot speak, or move the right

side of her body.

Patricia now lives in a $6,000 a month Pointe-Claire long-term care facility. She will lose a $3,000 monthly provincial subsidy next December.

During the proceedings Patricia’s father, Claude Jolicoeur, testified that his family has already received a life sentence.

Moved to tears, Claude said his daughter “will stay this way for the rest of her life.”

The Jolicoeur, including mother Lyse and brother Mathieu, were supported in court by a host of family and friends, while Hakim arrived only with his parents.

At one point the sombrely dressed young man, who appears younger than his 21 years, read his own prepared statement before the court.

Recalling the still warm November evening when he struck and wounded Patricia, Hakim said the day had otherwise been normal and that he had planned to meet friends in St. Lazare.

Agitated and in a shaking voice, Hakim recounted striking the 27 year-old woman, who had taken her dog for an evening walk in her Saddlebrook neighbourhood.

“It’s difficult just to know I changed the life of someone…it was the stupidest thing I could have done. In one split second I screwed up so many lives,” Hakim said, adding, “I’m so sorry, I can’t even put it into words.”

St. Lazare doctor Julie Maranda, credited with saving Patricia’s life immediately following the accident that she and her husband witnessed, also took the stand.

Maranda told the court that Patricia is not expected to improve.

“She won’t get better,” said Maranda, Patricia’s primary doctor. “She’ll be chronically in a persistent vegetative state. The longer she stays in this state the hope for improvement becomes more unlikely.”

As the three-hour long court session concluded Mercier said he would render a decision later this month, on April 23.

He then addressed Hakim saying that he would not make an example of him as some wanted, but that he would make a just decision under the circumstances.

For Patricia’s family seeing Hakim spend time in jail is the only fair punishment.

“We would like him to go to prison just to demonstrate that (dangerous driving) is not tolerable. That it has to stop,” said Lyse Jolicoeur.

On the cover Edward Hakim Jr., standing behind his father outside Valleyfield’s criminal courthouse on Monday, is accused of hitting Patricia Jolicoeur.