Preliminary hearings in death of Sylvain Bégin to conclude shortly
Preliminary hearings in death of Sylvain Bégin to conclude shortly
Preliminary poceedings in the case of Emily Rumleskie, accused of dangerous driving and impaired driving in the accident that took the life of Sylvain Bégin in September 2020, are scheduled to conclude at the end of February. However, Rumleskie has already been behind bars for several months due to not respecting the conditions of her release, which led to her being first incarcerated, released and then incarcerated again. The prosecutor for the case, Simon Pelletier, gave more details on the next step to come and the events which led to Rumleskie being detained.
“So, in relation to the files of Ms. Rumleskie who is accused of, in particular, dangerous driving causing the death of Sylvain Bégin and impaired driving causing the death of Sylvain Bégin, so there were changes of lawyers, but she is now detained,” he said (translated). “So she was charged with breach again regarding her release. Perhaps I can give a sort of little summary: the woman was initially released, there were breaches that were submitted, she was detained, released again and after that, she committed more breaches. We did not consent to her release, there was a judge who decided to release her. We were under review at the Superior Court saying, ‘Well, this decision should be revisited, it should be changed.’ The judge refused to change this decision and in the weeks that followed, the woman was arrested again. So, currently she is detained, she has been detained since September or October, and she had a change of lawyer which took place and we have almost completed what is at the level of the preliminary hearings. So, there was a preliminary hearing that took place over almost 6,7 or 8 days and there, the last date scheduled for that is February 27. On February 27 however, it’s going to be a preliminary hearing, it’s going to be before a judge so, it’s going to be at the courthouse in Campbell’s Bay. Therefore, it is open to the public, unlike previous hearings, and it is expected that the investigating police officer will be heard, as well as a remaining witness. So February 27 will be the end, we hope, for preliminary hearings in Ms. Rumleskie’s case.”
The collision that claimed Bégin’s life took place on September 19, 2020, when his motorcycle collided with an SUV driven by Rumleskie near the intersection of Hwy. 148 and rue Poirier in Mansfield-et-Pontefract. Rumleskie, a resident of Barry’s Bay Ontario, was 22 years-old at the time of her arrest on December 16, 2020 and was released with a promise to appear under several conditions.
Bégin was well-known in the area, as a community volunteer, firefighter and director general of the Municipalities of Rapides-des-Joachims and l’Île-du-Grand-Calumet.
Back in September 2022, a portion of the highway in Mansfield-et-Pontefract was closed between Amyotte’s Garage and rue Baume, in order for the Crown prosecutor to have a better understanding of the site of the collision.
