Is it wrong to drink alcohol while pregnant? Even the experts disagree

Though it is generally agreed binge-drinking poses significant risks to a foetus, authorities are split on the effect of moderate alcohol intake after 12 weeks

The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence urges women to avoid alcohol in the first three months of pregnancy. Photograph: Katie Collins/PA

Haroon Siddique-Wednesday 7 October 2015

“Thousands of middle class mums-to-be putting babies at risk with light drinking” is the headline on one news website, as the complex issue of drinking during pregnancy rears its head once more.

In a field where consensus is conspicuously lacking, the latest headlines are based on a discussion in the BMJ in which two experts argue that complete abstinence is the “only ethical advice that can be given”.

The government’s chief medical officer recommends that pregnant women should avoid alcohol. But it comes with an important rider, namely that “if you do opt to have a drink, you should stick to no more than one or two units of alcohol (equivalent to one or two small glasses of wine) once or twice a week to minimise the risk to your baby”.

Further – or conflicting, according to your point of view – advice from theNational Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) urges women to avoid alcohol in the first three months in particular, because of the increased risk ofmiscarriage; this guidance is supported by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

In the BMJ, Mary Mather, a retired paediatrician, and Kate Wiles, a doctoral research fellow in obstetric medicine at Guys and St Thomas NHS trust, argue that the guidance is inconsistent and that many countries advise against alcohol consumption completely. However, the counter argument is that many countries do not; and in at least two of the countries that do – Australia and Ireland –drinking while pregnant is said to be common (as it is in the UK).

Mather and Wiles argue that infants can suffer from foetal alcohol syndrome, mental retardation, development and behavioural abnormalities, and low birth weight.

An ultrasound scan of a healthy 20-week foetus. The children of heavy drinkers were more likely to be hyperactive and have behavioural and emotional problems. Photograph: Craig Holmes/Alamy

They say that “there is no evidence of a threshold level of alcohol consumption in pregnancy below which there can be certainty that exposure is safe” (binge-drinking is well-established to pose serious risks).

Even the expert on the other side of the BMJ discussion – Patrick O’Brien, a consultant and honorary senior lecturer in obstetrics and gynaecology at University College London hospital – agrees that there can never be a 100% guarantee that any lower limit is safe. But equally, O’Brien says there is no robust evidence that drinking within advised limits after 12 weeks of pregnancy is harmful for the foetus.

A major 2010 study by University College London’s department of epidemiology and public health investigated the drinking behaviour while pregnant of the mothers of 11,500 babies, and looked at the health of the children by the age of five. The results provided some comfort to women who drink moderately during pregnancy.

The children of heavy drinkers were more likely to be hyperactive and have behavioural and emotional problems, but the babies who were born to light drinkers suffered no ill effects.

But as O’Brien says, the evidence is not certain. He therefore advises that women should be told what the evidence is and its limitations so that they can make an informed decision. He too bemoans “a raft of conflicting guidance for women”.

Whether it is the conflicting guidance and headlines or a lack of advice from medical professionals, most mothers are unaware of the official limits, according to a YouGov poll for the charity Drinkaware. It found half of those surveyed were not given any advice about drinking while pregnant and only a fifth knew what the current guidance was. But reassuringly for those who urge abstinence, the remaining four-fifths thought the guidance stricter than it actually is.

Inescapable truth

07 October 2015
The adoption of a UNHRC consensus resolution on the UN report into Sri Lanka’s atrocities (OISL) has been welcomed by many as the first step in a long process to move Sri Lanka towards an era of justice and reconciliation through genuine accountability, together with the Sri Lankan foreign minister, Mangala Samaraweera’s opening address to the Council, which appeared a much welcome reprieve in the state’s hostile attitude towards engagement with the Council and addressing accountability. However, the Sri Lankan government’s own actions and statements made to its Sinhala majority electorate undermine confidence in its commitment to deliver on its promises.

The OISL report unequivocally concluded that a hybrid special court was the only meaningful way of ensuring justice, as it was an “inescapable reality that Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system is not ready to handle these types of crimes” - a point that was reiterated by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein and endorsed by the victims and international NGOs. Indeed, the initial draft UNHRC resolution drew on the OISL’s conclusions and called for international judges as well as wider measures such as the de-militarisation of Tamil areas. However, despite the new government’s promises, its actions cast doubts over its sincerity. Its resistance to key references on international oversight and involvement, triumphalist statements of “saving Mahinda Rajapaksa from the electric chair”, as well as the disingenuous narrative spun to Sinhala voters that the resolution mandates a “domestic inquiry” not only belie the spirit of statements made by the foreign minister at the Council but fuel doubts over the new government’s political will to deliver.

The UN Human Rights Chief, Special Rapporteur Pablo De Greiff and several co-sponsors of the resolution have repeatedly stressed that confidence of the victims will be essential in any process towards justice and reconciliation. Amid militarisation, a lack credible witness protection, ongoing reports of torture and isolation from the international community, confidence building will be essential. Indeed, for the Tamil victims who have sought justice for 6 years and risked their lives to give their testimony to the OISL, the resolution’s reliance on the government’s political will for implementation and failure to firmly consolidate the international involvement in the justice mechanism was a gravedisappointment.

The new government’s decision to follow their predecessors in seeking to appease Sinhala majoritarianism and curtail any potential uproar at efforts to meaningfully address the Tamil people’s grievances does not bode well for the possibility of genuine reconciliation on the island. The polarising triumphalist rhetoric and failure to be transparent to its voters on the resolution’s mandate only hinders the establishment of a credible justice and reconciliation process that meets victims’ and international expectations, and only further alienates the victim community.

The stark truth remains, that despite the OISL report consolidating the findings of two previous international reports and countless video footage and eye witness testimonies, the new government fails to wholly accept the core finding - Sri Lankan troops systematically killed, tortured and raped tens of thousands of Tamils during the end of the armed conflict. Indeed instead of openly and honestly relaying this central truth to the Sinhala majority as a genuine step towards addressing the past, government ministers have called for an investigation to clear the name of the army and pointed to the report’s findings as “allegations only”. The acceptance of these credible findings as the basis on which a process of justice can be founded would be a crucial and fundamental step towards building the confidence of the victims that the new government is sincere it deliver justice for the Tamils.  As always, continued multifaceted international involvement and pressure will be key in ensuring Sri Lanka acts to build the confidence of the victims whilst ensuring that recommendations of the High Commissioner’s report and steps towards justice and long term stability are realised.

Reconciliation cannot take place when truth is Suppressed 

2015-10-07

The wounds of the civil war still exist today. In addition to soldiers who sacrificed their lives for the motherland, there were large number of families living in the North and the East that became victims of Asia’s longest civil war. Out of those who sacrificed their lives are missing persons who were taken away by different groups.  In an interview with the Dailymirror, Dr. Thangamuthu Jayasingham, officer in charge of the Vantharumoolai refugee camp in 1990, recalled how people were taken away from the camp and are still missing. Excerpts are as follows:

Q  What exactly happened that day?
 This is an incident that took place 25 years ago on September 5, 1990 and I am still reliving it. I was a senior lecturer at the Eastern University in the village of Chenkaladi had up to 10,000 families living there. Around 158 of them sought refuge in the campus. One day the Army came in, separated the males and females and checked them. Afterwards they were forced into CTB buses and taken away. The ICRC and the MSF were caretakers. I remember  28 births and 15 deaths during that time.  Following this event and another shortly thereafter when 18 more were taken away, the population dissipated slowly from the camp which was closed on September 30, 1990. I was the last person to leave the premises. The problem is that up to now, nobody knows where they were taken, whether they were released or whether they were killed. 
 

"The problem is that up to now, nobody knows where they were taken, whether they were released or whether they were killed"

Q  Weren’t you told that they were released at some point?
 I was told that all of them were LTTErs. Anyone can say anything. Usually people are released in front of someone but in this situation nobody was a witness except for me, Professor Mano Sabaratnam and D. Sivalingam who were, are no more. In another 20 years time I too will be dead. Who will be a witness thereafter?

Q  Do you think they are alive?
I have people coming and telling me that one person is at place X, and another person is at place Y, but I have no confirmation. 

"At least tell them those people were killed. The truth is bitter but at  least they would make up their minds.  It was not only the  people who went missing, humaneness, good governance, rule of  law and truth also went missing "

Q  To what extent has this incident affected you?
I am traumatized as any person who went through the ordeals of the war. I wake up at night at times when memories of the camp return to haunt me in dreams.

 
Q  What steps did you take afterwards?
I presented myself to the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons in 2004. I gave them the names of all the army officers who came to the camp that day and also of the Army Major General who came to the camp three days after 
the incident.  When I went to the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons in 2014 at the request of relatives of the people who went missing, surprisingly I was told they were not aware of it. Why is there a commission? Shouldn’t they at least bother to follow up  and see what has really 
happened to them?

Q What do you ask the government?
 The relatives still have poojas for their loved ones for their return. They still live with a lot of hope. At least tell them those people were killed. 

The truth is bitter but at least they would make up their minds.  What can the government do? Pay compensation? What can they do with compensation? It was not only the people who went missing it was also humaneness, good governance, rule of law and truth that 

|went missing.  It is time to regain these elements or we will risk losing the trust of people forever. Reconciliation cannot take place when truth is suppressed.
Several attempts to contact the Presidential Commission on Missing Persons and the Secretary of Defence failed. 

Sri Lanka’s Struggle In The Post-War Period

By Imtiyaz Razak –October 7, 2015

Dr. Imtiyaz Razak

It is now crystal clear that the Sinhala leaders will never put forward a just resolution to the Tamil national question. Therefore, we are not prepared to place our trust in the impossible and walk along the same old futile path…. We therefore ask the international community and the countries of the world that respect justice to recognize our freedom struggle.”

This is the key sections of the annual Heroes’ Day statement delivered by the slain leader of the disabled Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), V. Pirapaharan. The LTTE cadres silenced their guns in May 2009, and we are being told that V. Pirapaharan is dead.

Whether such a statement from the LTTE leader represents accurate or not, the statement does represented the Tamil disappointments and distrust, but also it effectively exposed the duplicity of five decades old southern Sinhalese politics, which categorically refused to do meaningful political business with the Tamil leaders who represent the North and East Tamils.

Now Sri Lanka is not only politicians who are commonly considered as liberals lead walking on post-war Sri Lanka, but also Sri Lanka and thus more incline to seek inclusive society. Though extreme form of Tamil nationalism did not gain any significant inroads during August election of this year that should not be interpreted, as the total failure of extreme form of Tamil nationalism would not appear in Sri Lanka. Identities and mobilization based on ethnic identities would not function a certain way all the time. There are leverages and there’s a polarization. These occur when a group of people would perceive certain moves differently, for example, if and when politicians who would represent a certain group feel like their demands are being ignored, politicians can resort to identity politics. This occurs in deeply divided societies where there’s competitive electoral process. Sri Lanka does have such competitive electoral process and dynamics.

Whether the Tamil Tigers, for that matter, violent Tamil nationalists are freedom fighters as they claimed themselves or deadly terrorists as the Sri Lanka governments describe, history will answer it. My point here is that the birth of Tamil Tiger movement had roots in Sri Lanka’s history and its anti-Tamil agendas. It is important to point that there was not an overnight decision among the ordinary Tamils to approve the agendas of the Tamil Tigers: the failure of Sri Lankan polity to meet the demands of the Tamil moderates was a key foundation for the origin of the Tamil extremism in Sri Lanka. Instead of listening to the Tamil leaders and accommodating their reasonable demands, the Sinhalese ruling leaders of the time assaulted and stoned the Tamils and their leaders, and even hired the Sinhalese to become butchers to kill innocent Tamils and moderate leaders. One needs to realize that successive governments since 1956 controlled by the Sinhalese miserably failed to engage the Tamil moderates such as the Federal Party (FP).                 Read More

Sri Lanka’s Hide and Seek Honeymoon with Israel

Spells disaster for communal harmony.

By Latheef Farook : -Oct 7, 2015

An Israeli Parliamentary delegation visited Sri Lanka from 24 to 30 of September 2015. According to reports the delegation had discussions with Secretary-General of Parliament Dhammika Dasanayake on areas of mutual interest, security arrangements in Parliament, the public outreach and employing disabled people in Parliament.

Sri Lanka’s Hide and Seek Honeymoon With Israel by Thavam Ratna

What is a Social Market Economy?

In the last decade the EU has drifted away from Ordnungspolitik, and European competitiveness has declined significantly

 Wednesday, 7 October 2015

The UNP has appropriated “Social Market Economy” as the label for its economic programme. Its election manifesto referred to a knowledge-based, highly competitive social market economy. This is a “third way” between extreme capitalism and extreme socialism. It blends a free market economy with government intervention to protect vulnerable people and the environment. And it will deliver “economic democracy to the people”.

What is a Social Market Economy by Thavam Ratna

Four soldiers sentenced to 25 years RI in 

Jaffna

The Jaffna High Court today sentenced four soldiers into 25 Rigorous Imprisonment (RI) each over a gang rape and sexual abuse incidents in Viswamadhu, Kilinochchi. 

The incident took place in 2010, shortly after the end of the war at a resettlement camp where the returnees was living. A 27 year old mother of two children was gang raped  and another woman who was residing next to her was sexually abused by the soldiers. 

The Jaffna High court judge M. Elancheliyan noted in his verdict that the crime committed by the soldiers was “unbearable and unforgivable since the victim’s dignity was damaged by them after the end of the war”. The four military personnels were also ordered to pay Rs 500,000 each to the victim , if they failed to pay an additional two years would be added for the prison term. They were also to pay Rs 25,000 as legal cost and failing which another year would be added. 

Only three of the suspects were present in the court. The judge ordered to arrest the fourt suspect immediately and remand him. 

Selling SriLankan Airlines In ‘Grand’ Mother Country

By Sarath de Alwis –October 6, 2015

Sarath de Alwis

The current cause célèbre over the position of Sales Manager of SriLankan Airlines in London is a reaffirmation of the hopelessness, futility and the sheer lunacy of hoping to run an efficient, profitable state owned airline. A state owned enterprise is everybody’s business and nobody’s liability.

The United Kingdom has the largest Sri Lankan diaspora community. Sri Lankan airlines with daily flights to London is the umbilical cord that keeps all those of Sri Lankan origin in the United Kingdom in a state of perpetual patriotic pregnancy. I borrowed and amended the curiously covetous phrase ‘permanent pregnancy’ from the Indian American émigré writer Jumpha Lahiri’s novel ‘The Namesake.’

‘Ethnic traffic’ is a pivotal component in the ‘marketing mix of the National Carrier. The Foreign Service and the Aviation industry of the ‘Mathru Bhimiya ‘are the two domains over which almost every Sri Lankan in ‘Old Blighty’ will claim matchless mastery. I make these authoritative pronouncements from experience gathered during nearly eighteen months of serving as the Manager of Air Lanka in the United Kingdom under the Executive Presidency of Ranasinghe Premadasa.[A disastrous period in my professional life]. The Premadsa Presidency is important to this narrative because, it reveals certain facets of our polity that have not changed despite the emergence of the ‘Borderless flat world’ of Tom Freidman.

The Manager of Air Lanka in London at that time had to contend with a complex hierarchy. In addition to the conventional reporting structure, the Manager was in constant contact with the Chairman in Colombo. “Venerable Walpola Rahula thero is traveling to London. His Excellency wants him well looked after. The Thero is feeble. Arrange for an Ambulift”. Done. Venerable Rahula in London tells a press reporter that Minster Gamini Dissanayake gave him a plot of land near Parliament for his ‘Awasaya’. The Manager receives another call from the Chairman. “Please don’t upgrade Ven.Rahula to business class. We don’t want complications.”

Read More

Army criminals in Prageeth murder taken to Girthale camp for further investigation : torture chamber identified

(Lanka-e-News -07.Oct.2015, 7.20AM) The CID team  that is conducting investigations into abduction and killing of journalist Prageeth Ekneliyagoda ,took along with them the suspects who are now in custody to Girithale army camp yesterday (06) to inspect the place where Prageeth was detained and tortured based on the statements made by the suspects  to the CID. The latter had been able to uncover valuable information thereby, it is learnt.

The 11 suspects including lieutenant Colonels of the intelligence division were taken to the camp with a heavy security blanket.The CID had been able to confirm a wealth of information pertiaining to how Prageeth was taken to the camp , the place where he  was detained and tortured , it is reported. 

The registers recording the holidays taken and exit of the the officers who were at the main gate  of the Girithale Intelligence division camp , entry to and exit of vehicles from the intelligence division camp, and those registers  recording the permission granted  to the vehicles leaving the camp travelling  a distance of 20 kilometers  , were scrutinized by the CID yesterday , based on reports.  

The mobile phones of a number of army officers are also slated to be investigated today.However ,  the name of the  monstrous murderous  officer of the highest echelon who gave the orders to carry out the abduction and murder of Prageeth had not been recorded.

The vicious and venomous publicity campaign carried out  by Web Gode father who claims  he is of Portuguese origin and several journalists with innate venal propensities  who are in the pay of the national newspapers , and their efforts to get the murder suspects released in Prageeth’s case via a malicious mudslinging campaign  trying to falsely allege that Prageeth was a member of the LTTE had been crushed and totally pulverized following the investigations and exposures so far. Thereafter , a column in instalments under the caption ‘Prageeth’s probe’ is being publicised without a valid base  under the name of an illiterate bogus writer who had earned a notoriety for writing falsehoods even in court

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by     (2015-10-07 02:04:39)

Suspects’ SIMs under probe in Lasantha murder investigation

Oct 07, 2015

Investigations so far have revealed that five of these SIMs had been bought to the name of an inmate of Welikada prison at the time of the murder.

The CID has recorded a statement from the prisoner, who had died due to natural causes some time after his release from prison.

Information has also come to light regarding death threats received by ‘The Sunday Leader’ editor, who was a strong critic of the Rajapaksa regime.

Some of the military personnel allegedly involved in his killing had been sent overseas during that regime.

A SIM card also was responsible for the revelations of suspects in the forced disappearance of journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda.

Meanwhile, the IT unit of the Colombo University, in a report to the Colombo magistrate’s court on October 05, said it has been able to retrieve pictures, conversations, SMS and email messages from the fire-damaged mobile phone of murdered rugger player Wasim Thajudeen.
- SLM -

Unemployed graduates protest


2015-10-07
The Combined Association of Unemployed Graduates (CAUG) staged a protest today outside the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry demanding job opportunities for graduates and a national policy to provide job opportunities for graduates. Pix by Kushan Pathiraja

President Justifies Rs 180 M Budget For Repairs His Residence

October 7, 2015

The Presidential media division issuing a communique today justified the spending of Rs. 180 million to carry out the repair work of the new President’s Residence.

Explaining matters, the PMD said the building had to be renovated by merging two old houses in order to lift it to the standards suitable for a President’s living.

Quoting the President’s Secretary, PMD said garages and residential quarters to house the presidential security personnel had to be fully renovated.

The construction, the communique said was carried out by the State owned Central Engineering Consultancy Bureau (CECB).

The PMD quoting President’s Secretary said that President Maithripala Sirisena has refused to use the President’s House in Fort as its maintenance cost exceeds Rs. 15 million per month.

Referring to the BMW vehicles and the BMW motorcycles, mentioned in media rports the PMD said they had been imported by the previous government in October 2014.

The PMD communique said the vehicles were taken for use as they could not be re-exported.

The government yesterday submitted a supplementary estimate seeking the approval of Parliament for an allocation of Rs. 180 million to renovate and refurbish the official residence of President Maithripala Sirisena.

The supplementary allocation of Rs. 180,688,000 was presented to Parliament by Chief Government Whip Media Minister Gayantha Karunatillake.               Read More

Ex-DIG, Chief Inspector further remanded

October 7, 2015

Former Vavuniya DIG U.K. Dissanayake and a Chief Inspector who were arrested in connection with an incident of illegal excavations carried out in the Kudakachchakodiya area have been further remanded until October 21 by the Vavuniya Magistrate’s Court today (07). 

The DIG, who allegedly chaperoned a group of individuals to carry out the illegal excavation in search of buried treasure, had been remanded till today after he surrendered to the CID last month.

Earlier, seven other suspects, who pleaded guilty to the crime, were released on bail.

One of them was fined Rs 75,000 and released while the other six were released after imposing a fine of Rs 100,000 each.

Minister attempting to Appoint his Son in Law as Chairman of Tourist Promotion

- Oct 07, 2015

The minister of Tourist Promotion according to sources is attempting to get rid of either the Chairman of the Tourist Promotion or the Director General to accommodate his treasure-hunting son in law Nirosh Rasiah who returned from a state funded trip from Paris into one of those positions

The Minister had cut the name of the officer who should have gone and included his treasure-hunting son in law. A web site reported that his son in law had enjoyed himself fully in Paris nightclubs at the cost of the taxpayers without making any significant contribution as the Sri Lanka promotion, as no bureau official was represented in the delegation.

Rasiah who has spent his life selling land and properties in the United States according to industry sources would be a poor choice when the country needs to get its act together to capitalize on the tourism wave and potential.

Rasia had acted as the head of the delegation giving direction from Paris to the promotion Bureau. Rasiah has told industry sources in Paris that he is in charge of the ministry and to come to him with any problems.

Sources observed that it may good for the government to check Rasiah’s track record in the United States before they allow the elderly Minister to appoint him as the tourism promotion chief.

Good Governance Activist

Killer drunk driver's sentence just not enough

From left: Brian Wijeratne, 19, his sister, Eleesha, 16, and his parents — Antonette, 50, and Jayantha, 49. Jayantha and Eleesha were killed in a head-on crash Aug. 5. Antonette suffered serious injuries. 

 injuries. 

Sabastian Prosa is pictured outside court during his drunk driving trial. (CRAIG ROBERTSON, Toronto Sun files)

BY MICHELE MANDEL, TORONTO SUN

TORONTO - At long last, after a tortuous court proceeding, drunk driver Sabastian Prosa is finally going to jail.

But probably not for long. Handed just a five-year prison term for killing two people in a horrific head-on crash, there’s little doubt the 22-year-old aspiring doctor will soon be out on bail again if he decides to launch an appeal. And even if he doesn’t, parole could be as close as 20 months away.

Is this what justice looks like?

Not to a brother who lost his father and sister in that senseless head-on collision three years ago.

“I ask all Canadians: Do you honestly believe this is real justice received for the deaths of two people and injuries to another? Because I don’t,” demanded Brian Wijeratne outside a downtown courthouse Tuesday afternoon.

“The Canadian justice system is all too lenient on this issue,” he insisted. “It is disgusting and disrespectful to all lives lost to this violent crime.”

Prosa, 19 at the time, was driving with almost twice the legal alcohol limit when he made a sudden U-turn on Hwy. 427 and slammed his GMC Envoy into the Wijeratne minivan as the family headed home from a Florida vacation in the early hours of Aug. 5, 2012. Jayantha “Neil” Wijeratne and his 16-year-old daughter, Eleesha, were killed and his wife, Antonette, was severely injured.

Prosa tried to blame his dangerous driving on a mysterious “club drug” that somebody must have slipped into his drink while he was partying with his friends in downtown Toronto. But following a trial by judge alone, Superior Court Justice Glenn Hainey rejected that ridiculous story and convicted him on all 12 charges in June.

Last month, Crown attorney Tom Goddard asked for a virtually unprecedented eight-year prison term for Prosa. While the judge acknowledged that sentences have been increasing for cases of impaired driving causing death, he wasn’t prepared to send the first offender away for such a long stretch.

“This case is a terrible tragedy for all concerned,” Hainey told the crowded courtroom. “No sentence that I impose can undo the tragic consequences of this collision or compensate for the loss of Jayantha and Eleesha and the permanent injuries suffered by Antonette.”

He said a five-year prison term, as well as an eight-year driving ban, was stiff enough to deter others while allowing the “excellent prospects for rehabilitation” for Prosa — who has an “otherwise excellent character” and whose drunk driving was “clearly out of character.”

Hainey also commended Prosa’s expressions of remorse in his pre-sentence report but never noted that when given the opportunity to address the court — and the family he decimated — he chose not to say a word.

“We’ve seen no remorse at all,” Antonette Wijeratne said in an interview. “From the very beginning, there was no condolence for my family. He wasn’t remorseful at all.”

And now he goes to prison for five years where he will barely unpack before he’s eligible for day parole after doing as little as a sixth of his sentence. Just look at former Maple Leafs captain Rob Ramage — he received his get-out-of-jail-free card after serving just 10 months of a four-year term for killing former Chicago Blackhawk Keith Magnuson.

Of course the Wijeratne family is outraged.

“I’m not pleased with the sentence at all,” Antonette told reporters as she held the last photo taken of her husband and daughter, a picture taken with them all smiling in Florida. “He took two precious lives and I am permanently injured. It will never be enough ... (but) I expected more.”

Her son, who didn’t travel with the family on the fatal trip, insisted the sentence isn’t enough to deter other drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel. Almost two weeks ago, three children and their grandfather were killed in an alleged impaired-driving collision.

How many more must there be?

“This kind of violence continues to happen on a daily basis,” he said. “This pattern of carelessness and needless death needs to change. Our laws need to change.”

For after decades of education, the message is still not clear: killing someone while driving drunk is not an accident. It’s not a mistake. It’s a crime.

And it’s about time the punishment was made to fit it.

michele.mandel@sunmedia.ca