ATV operator who drove drunk gets probation for crash that left man brain damaged

The youth accused of striking down Colby Duffenaisin Piccaddilly in 2015 while driving his ATV drunk after leaving a Christmas party has beensentenced to two years' probation.

In Stephenville provincial court on Monday, Judge Lynn Cole also ordered the youth, now 18,to 240 hours of community serviceand told him he could notdrive for five years.

For the first six months of his probation, he must alsohonour a curfew every evening.

• Punishment won't fit crime, says father of brain-injured man hurt in drunk driving accident

Brian Duffenais said the sentence does not strike him as just given the permanent brain damage his son suffered at the hands of a drunk driver.

"Like I said, the punishment doesn't fit the crime," Duffenais told CBC News Monday.

The driver, who was 16 at the time of the collision, had pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing bodily harm and dangerous operation of a motor vehicle.

Because of his age at the time of the collision, the drivercannot be identified because of the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Duffenais said friends and family along with 10members of the local Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) chapter, filled the Stephenville courtroom Monday afternoon.

Struck down after Christmas party

Now 21, ColbyDuffenais wasstruck and thrown 200 feet or about 60 metres when he was walking home from a party on the main road in Piccadilly in the early morning hours of Dec.26, 2015.

Colby Duffenaissuffered a traumatic brain injury and will never walk ortalk again. He cannot chew, and relies on a feeding tube to stay alive.

"He will have a quality of life. He will have us. But not the quality of life that he usedto have," Duffenais said in an interview last week.

Young life changed forever because of drunk driving crash in Newfoundland

8 years ago

Duration 2:04

CBC's Colleen Connors reports on a teenage boy who suffered a traumatic brain injury after being knocked down by an impaired driver more than a year ago

Brian Duffenais said he cannothelp but compare the lives of the two young men involved in the collision.

Duffenais said while his son will never marry or have children, the driver will be able to those things, complete an education and pursue a higher quality of life.

Although Colby Duffenais'scondition will never improve, Brian Duffenais plans on bringing him home March where he will have full time support staff to help him eat, bathe and get in and out of his bed and wheelchair.