Newfoundland judge says four years too lenient for man found guilty of drunk driving death

A Newfoundland man who pleaded guilty of impaired driving causing death has had a four-year prison sentence rejected by a judge due to the sentence being deemed to be too lenient.Rodney Constantine pleaded guilty to causing the death of Mark Squires on Dec. 10, 2023, after Squires got into the car with him after Constantine had consumed as many as 15 drinks.Constantine had gotten into a fight with his ex-girlfriend before getting behind the wheel and picking up Squires and his cousin, Andrew, in St. John's.Despite Squires begging Constantine to stop after he began driving erratically, reaching speeds of between 125 and 165 km/h, Constantine refused and then crashed into a house on Empire Ave., where Squires was pronounced dead at the scene.The court had heard that Squires was begging and crying for Constantine to let him out of the car before the crash..In court on Tuesday, Judge Bruce Short stated that, despite the Crown and defence agreeing to a four-year sentence, he felt the punishment was not befitting the crime and also noted the fact that Constantine had repeatedly shown signs that his behaviour had not changed since the incident.Despite being banned from operating a vehicle until 2085, Constantine was caught by police on two separate occasions in 2024, at one stop being found in possession of cocaine and around $5,000 in cash.Both times he was caught, he was also stated to have been driving erratically, including one instance where he was caught intentionally tailgating another vehicle."Mere months after this event, he's caught twice by the police, firstly violating a heavy prohibition from driving. And even more so, driving in a manner that shows a complete disregard of safety of anyone else on the road," Judge Short said on Tuesday.Short seemed to take particular issue with Constantine's lack of remorse or ability to improve himself, saying, "It's not about not understanding … It's about not giving a damn.".Mark Squires's family was present in the courtroom during this, including his partner, Celeste England, who Squires had reportedly been intending to propose to.Heartbreakingly, England had given birth to their daughter, Saje, just 19 days before Squire's death.When the decision to hand down a harsher sentence was read, Squire's family reportedly gasped and cried tears of joy.The Crown and defence counsel will now have to come back to court on September 17 with a new, harsher sentence for Constantine, who will remain in custody.

Newfoundland judge says four years too lenient for man found guilty of drunk driving death

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