No need for ‘double punishment’ in mandatory sentence case, Supreme Court rules

OTTAWA — Canada’s top court says a woman who was barred from driving for almost two years while awaiting sentencing would face a kind of double punishment if she were now handed an additional, mandatory one-year prohibition.

The Supreme Court of Canada ruling comes today in the case of Jennifer Basque, who was charged with operating a motor vehicle with excess blood alcohol concentration in Moncton, N.B., in 2017.

Basque spent the next 21 months, between her initial court appearance and sentencing, under a prohibition that prevented her from driving.

Basque pleaded guilty and a judge levied a $1,000 fine and a mandatory one-year driving prohibition, but took into account the time that had elapsed, meaning she was not subjected to the further ban on driving.