Banke sentenced to 18 months in jail, banned from driving for five years

OTTAWA, Ont. — The man convicted of running down a couple at a downtown bus stop two years ago has been sentenced to 18-months in jail and banned from driving for five years.

Banke was in police custody for 15 days until he was released on bail and subsequently put on house arrest.
That time has been taken into consideration meaning the 22-year-old will serve 13 months in jail and four years following that without a license. He will also be eligible for early parole.

Following his release he will be on probation for 18 months during which he will serve 200 hours of community service. Justice Ratushny has asked that he educate young people on the effects of dangerous driving.

This past May, Simon Banke, 22, pleaded guilty to two counts of dangerous operation of a motor vehicle causing death.

On Sept. 16, 2010, he crashed his car into high school sweethearts Leo Paul Regnier and his wife, Sherrianne, who were waiting at a temporary Albert St. bus stop after celebrating an anniversary.

Leo Paul was pronounced dead at the scene, while his wife died in hospital four days later, leaving their three daughters orphans.

Suzanne Baker, Leo Paul’s sister spoke to reporters after the hearing saying her family is upset with the decision.

“Should he not be punished for what he’s done? My neices, they’ve got no parents. We don’t have a baby brother anymore. It’s not fair,” Baker said. “We are all grieving really bad, like really, really bad. Those little girls, they don’t have a mommy and daddy anymore, now come on. Just because he’s a good kid does that not mean he does not get punished.”

Joseph Addelman represented Banke for the case and told reporters afterwards Banke did not show any clear reaction to the sentence, but was very emotional as he was taken into custody.

“I’m going to say that a very experienced judge, reviewed the circumstances of this case, reviewed the circumstances of the offender of this case and arrived at what I believe and certainly what Simon believes is a fair sentence.” Addelman told reporters. “Simon’s been devastated from this from day one. This has been the most serious event in his young life.”

During Justice Lynn Ratushny’s reading of the sentencing decision she repeatedly said the sentence was also to deter the public from dangerous driving as well.

“I disagree with the fact that this is a deterrent sentence,” Baker said. “The guy gets what, a year and a half concurrent, both my brother and his wife. And what five years no driving, but less the time he wasn’t driving. That’s pretty foolish because somebody else is going to go out there and do it and say ‘Oh I’m only going to get that not a big deal.'”   

The Reginer family is now getting involved in a civil suit they launche six months ago against the city and the construction company working on Albert Street at the time.

“The only question right now is whether or not the insurance company is going to be responsible for the remaining $800,000 within the insurance policy and whether or not anybody else is liable,” said their family lawyer, Russel Molot. “We’ve started an action against the city of Ottawa, against the construction company that was working on Albert Street and against the consultants because in our view the portion of Albert that was blocked off wasn’t necessary to be blocked off and that played a factor in the accident.”  

Molot added the civil suit is not about vengeance, but compensation.

“The only real thing that the civil suit can do is to provide a fund that will allow the girls to have the life that they might of expected had their parents not passed away,” said Molot. “In reality it’s not about it’s not about vengeance. It’s not about retribution. The bottom line is it’s about money.”