Northern Ont. man admits he let 9-year-old drive Sea-Doo alone, resulting in serious crash

A man pleaded guilty to criminal negligence Wednesday in a July 2023 Sea-Doo crash in which he let a 9-year-old drive the watercraft unsupervised.

A Sea-Doo crash that severely injured a nine-year-old boy two summers ago has led to a criminal conviction of a Timmins man and more than $6,500 in fines.

Jean-Marc Bouchard, 41, represented himself as he pleaded guilty to three charges in the Ontario Court of Justice in Timmins on Wednesday morning.

The name of the victim can’t be published because of a publication ban in the case.

At the start of the trial, he pleaded guilty to Canada Shipping Act charges of allowing a person under the age of 16 to operate a vessel and allowing a person without competency or proof to operate a vessel.

Initially, Bouchard pleaded not guilty to the charge of causing bodily harm to a child under 16 by criminal negligence, but after a pre-trial argument involving three witnesses, he changed his plea to guilty.

Driver was 9, passenger was 8

In this case, a young boy was driving a Sea-Doo that Bouchard owned on Kamiscotia Lake in Timmins on July 4, 2023. The boy had an eight-year-old female passenger.

It crashed when it struck the propeller of a boat on a lift on a dock near the shore. The girl was unharmed, but the boy was seriously injured and spent a month at an Ottawa children’s hospital.

What is the legal age to drive a personal watercraft?

According to Transport Canada, only people ages 16 and older are legally allowed to operate a personal watercraft – like a Sea-Doo.

In this case, three witnesses said at a pre-trial hearing they had seen the nine-year-old driving one of the man’s two Sea-Doos by himself on several occasions before the crash.

While evidence that doesn’t pertain to the charge isn’t usually permitted in a trial, the Crown argued it demonstrated a pattern of behaviour and conduct of the accused relevant to the case.

The victim’s mother told the court she had several conversations with the man about her concerns involving the boy’s lack of safety when driving his Sea-Doo.

Represented himself

She also said that the day before the devastating crash, the boy tried to splash her while driving the Sea-Doo, but ended up hitting the Sea-doo she was driving.

Bouchard represented himself and the judge cut him off when he started to cross-examine a female neighbour. He mentioned the woman’s children and asked if she owned a side-by-side and if she ever allowed her daughters to drive it.

The judge said she wouldn’t allow the question because a witness can only be questioned about their testimony.

What is criminal negligence?

When it comes to criminal negligence, the Crown said direct knowledge is not necessarily required.

“Indifference is enough,” the Crown said.

“He knew (the victim) was operating it on his own.”

Accepted responsibility

When it was Bouchard’s turn to make his final submission in the pre-trial, he sounded emotional and accused the Crown of making an example out of him, but said that he had already suffered greatly since the incident.

“There has been enough harm to both him and me,” he said, his voice breaking.

“I want this over and done with and move on with my life.”

In response to his complaint about the amount of time it took to bring to trial, the Crown pointed out that the trial date had been originally set within six months, but he failed to attend the trial confirmation hearing.

He also went from being self-represented to hiring a lawyer and back to being self-represented, which also caused further delay.

‘Stop letting kids go out’

Bouchard mentioned several times that he has learned his lesson.

“You knew or ought to have known he had no business driving that Sea-Doo,” the judge said.

The man said he wants others to learn from his mistake and not let their underage kids circumvent the rules.

During a 20-minute recess for the judge to rule on a pre-trial application, the man agreed to change his plea to guilty on the criminal negligence charge.

That allowed for a joint sentencing submission.

The judge agreed to a conditional discharge that allows Bouchard to avoid a criminal record. He will be on probation for a year but will not be required to report to a probation officer.

He has been ordered to pay a $5,000 fine for the criminal negligence charge, $750 for each Canada Shipping Act charge, as well as an additional 25 per cent in victim fine surcharges.

Bouchard is not allowed to operate a personal watercraft for a year or allow anyone under the legal age under his care to operate one.

Let go of the throttle

During the reading of the agreed statement of facts, the court heard that data from the black box on board the watercraft provided some important details about the crash.

Because the Sea-Doo is run by a jet propulsion engine with no speed rating, it is difficult to get the exact speed of the watercraft right before the collision.

However, data showed that the boy let go of the throttle two seconds before impact, which caused him to lose the ability to steer and ultimately crash.

The incident caused emotional, financial, mental and physical harm, the boy’s mom said in a victim impact statement.

As for long-term effects, because the damage was so close to the boy’s groin, doctors are not sure if he will be able to have children in the future.

While specialists said they are surprised it didn’t result in a fatality, the boy has made a miraculous recovery.

He has been able to resume soccer and hockey as he continues to recover with several more surgeries expected in the future.