Terry Robert McGrath, 26, failed a roadside sobriety check after rolling his vehicle on a gravel road in 2023. Two passengers died in the crash.
Two passengers died when Terry McGrath, 26, rolled his vehicle
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Blair Rhodes · CBC News
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N.S. driver handed 4 years in prison for refusing breathalyzer
15 minutes ago|
Duration 2:14
It was a tragic, sudden end to a late-night drive along a back road in Pictou County. A vehicle overturned and two passengers were killed. Three years later, the driver was sentenced. The CBC’s Blair Rhodes has the story.
Three years after he rolled his vehicle on a gravel road in Pictou County, N.S., Terry Robert McGrath, 26, has been sentenced to four years in prison for charges relating to the deaths of his two passengers.
Nicholas Laffin and his girlfriend, Alanta Bezanson, died in the crash.
“It’s horrible, it’s absolutely horrible,” Alanta’s mother, Tammy Bezanson, said outside court Wednesday.
“We lost our whole family in a sense. Every day it’s a process to wake up, to be a mom to my other children, to be positive, have a good outlook and try to help raise them as best as I can knowing that my girl’s gone.”
The courtroom in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Pictou was packed with members of both the Bezanson and Laffin families to hear Justice Frank Hoskins pass sentence. A handful of people were also on hand to support McGrath.
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According to evidence at his trial, police detected “a whiff of alcohol” from McGrath when they arrived on the scene of the crash early on the morning of June 10, 2023. They administered a roadside sobriety check, which he failed.
After consulting a lawyer, McGrath refused a police demand for a breathalyzer. He was then charged with two counts of refusing a breathalyzer while knowing he was involved in a crash resulting in death.
“The offence is the refusing, actually,” Crown prosecutor Bill Gorman said outside court. “Once you’ve been given the demand and you refuse to provide a sample, impairment isn’t part of that equation.”
McGrath eventually pleaded guilty to the two charges.
The Crown had been seeking a sentence of 4 ½ to six years. Defence lawyer Stan MacDonald recommended a sentence of two to three years.
After an exhaustive canvas of the law and similar cases, Hoskins settled on the four-year sentence.
“I respect the judge’s decision, it was thorough, it was thoughtful. As Justice Hoskins expressed in his decision, no two cases are exactly alike,” Gorman said.
As he passed sentence, Hoskins spoke directly to McGrath. “I take no pleasure in imposing a custodial sentence,” the judge said. And to the families he commented: “No sentence can compensate for the value of the life that is lost.”
Gorman described the case as “tragic.”
“You have two young, vibrant individuals [who] are dead as a result of this. It’s devastating to both sides of the equation, I would suggest.”
Once he completes his prison sentence, McGrath will be banned from driving for a period of four years.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
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Blair Rhodes has been a journalist for more than 40 years, the last 31 with CBC. His primary focus is on stories of crime and public safety. He can be reached at blair.rhodes@cbc.ca
