Patricia’s family will forgive ‘the day (Hakim) comes out of jail’

“He asked us to forgive him,” Mathieu Jolicoeur said outside the courtroom of the man who gravely wounded his sister. “I’ll forgive him the day he comes out of jail. If he doesn’t go to jail, I’ll never forgive him.”

Claude, Lyse and Mathieu Jolicoeur will find out next Wednesday Hakim’s punishment, for the dangerous driving charges he faced in the November 29, 2006 St. Lazare accident that left Patricia Jolicoeur, 28, with permanent injuries and severe brain damage.

She now lives in a Pointe-Claire long-term care facility.

During the April 7, 2008 court proceedings, Patricia’s father Claude Jolicoeur read a victim’s impact statement explaining the physical, emotional and financial toll his daughter’s injuries have taken on the family.

“We have already had our sentence. It’s a life sentence. (Patricia) will stay this way the rest of her life,” Jolicoeur said to Judge Michel Mercier of Quebec Court.

Afterwards Jolicoeur felt his words had an effect on the judge.

“I think that he was moved,” said the father. “It was true what I said, that we were already given a life sentence, I hope that sinks in.”

Crown prosecutors are asking that Hakim serve 30-months in prison, while the defence is seeking 15-18 months to be served in the community.

For Patricia’s mother Lyse, attending the court session was difficult.

The proceedings were only her second time inside a courtroom.

She says she concentrates on Patricia’s care and leaves legal matters to Claude.

Asked what kind of sentence she hopes will be handed down next week Lyse replied: “We would like (Hakim) to go to prison. I feel sorry for the judge, he has to decide (what to impose on) this young guy in good health who wants to go back to his life.”

Mathieu, 23, a former St. Lazare firefighter now working in Gatineau, wants people to learn from the tragedy.

“I see the results of these accidents everyday in my work,” he said.

But not everyone felt as strongly. Doctor Julie Maranda, who lives near the Jolicoeurs, treated Patricia in the street immediately after the young woman was stuck by Hakim’s car.

Close with the Jolicoeurs and Patricia, she nevertheless said she feels compassion for both families.

“I feel bad for Edward, too,” Maranda admitted.

Maranda and her husband, Marc Koran, were both witnesses in the case, while Maranda continues to serve as Patricia’s primary care physician.

The judge will sentence Hakim next Wednesday, on April 23.