A double fatal drunk-driving case that went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada is now back before the courts in this province.
Twenty-six-year-old Nicholas Villeneuve is charged with eight counts including impaired driving causing death and impaired causing bodily harm in connection with the head-on collision near Gander in July of 2019.
Husband and wife John and Sandra Lush both died when their car collided with Villeneuve’s truck. The couple’s daughter, Suzanne, and her boyfriend, Josh Whiteway, who were in the back seat, suffered serious, life-changing injuries.
(Josh Whiteway and his mother, Michelle Blake are shown in this province’s Court of Appeal in 2022.)
Villeneuve was acquitted after the first trial because the judge ruled his rights were violated by the arresting officer.
The Crown challenged that in this province’s Court of Appeal, which ruled the judge was wrong to acquit Villeneuve, and ordered a new trial.
His lawyers took that to the Supreme Court of Canada, which refused to hear their appeal, paving the way for a re-trial.
That process began again this afternoon in Gander provincial court, but was promptly postponed due to weather-related travel issues involving Villeneuve’s lawyer, Rosellen Sullivan.
The case will be called again on March 22.
