It was an emotional day in a Sudbury courtroom Thursday as a man was sentenced to three years for a devastating fatal crash in June 2023. Nuno ‘Jorge’ Duraes, 56, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death in the June 17, 2023, two-vehicle collision on Skead Road. Adam Hirschfeld, 29, was in the other vehicle and was killed in what police said was a head-on crash. Duraes was driving his white Lexus south on Skead Road just after 3 a.m. when it crossed the centre line and struck Hirschfeld’s northbound vehicle. Hirschfeld died at the scene while Duraes and his wife, Anita, were taken to Health Sciences North with injuries. Blood drawn at the hospital two hours after the collision showed Duraes had 2.5 times the legal limit of alcohol in his blood. The small courtroom was filled Thursday, mostly with the family of the victim. Seven victim impact statements Crown attorney Mathieu Ansell submitted seven victim impact statements. Hirschfeld’s mother, three sisters and brother each read their statements in court. Also reading a victim impact statement was the mother of Adam’s young son, Cooper, who was just 17 months old when his father died. They all described the tremendous loss and deep grief they have endured, along with anger toward the defendant at the loss of a future without Hirschfeld. “June 17, 2023 was our 45th wedding anniversary,” Michele Hirschfeld, Adam’s mother, told the court. As a mother of “five children, not four,” she said she has watched what the tragedy has done to her other children, her grandchildren and her husband. “My faith tells me I need to forgive to heal. The devastation in my heart is permanent,” Michele said. “Grief is not something you leave behind; it moves with you,” Hirschfeld’s sister, Melissa, said in her statement. After hearing about his death, Hirschfeld’s sister, Hanna, who lives in Nicaragua, went into labour and delivered her son three weeks early. “Adam is not simply a name and a case. Adam’s life mattered,” his sister, Emily, said. Hirschfeld’s brother, Dustin, said he feels guilty because he was the one who wanted to leave early for their road trip to Ottawa and struggles to be a good husband and father because of that guilt. “I don’t have the tender heart of my mother and sisters. There will be no forgiveness from me,” he said to the defendant. Cassy Eisenhour Gauthier, the mother of Adam’s now four-year-old son, spoke about what she’s going to tell their son when he gets older. “As he grows, his questions will grow with him,” she read from her statement. “You may have been stolen from us, but you will not disappear.” Defence lawyers Berk Keaney and Michael Venturi submitted character letters that spoke about Duraes. He doesn’t have a previous criminal record and only had one speeding ticket prior to the 2023 tragedy. “This is not to evoke sympathy, but for background on the person to be sentenced,” Keaney told Justice Robin Bellows. He made ‘a terrible decision’ He then read excerpts from the letters which called Duraes a “devoted family man,” “honest” and “caring” who “feels guilt and shame” for his actions. “He’s a good man who made a terrible decision with tragic consequences,” Keaney read. Duraes addressed the court and apologized to the Hirschfield family as well as his own family and the Skead community. “I wish it never happened,” he said. Duraes has been seeing a psychologist for the past 2.5 years. Both Crown and defence provided a joint submission to Bellows asking for three years in custody and a five-year driving ban. The driving ban was reduced to 1,286 days (3.5 years) due to conditions already served. “None of the submissions made are to minimize the loss by the Hirschfield family,” Venturi told the judge and the court. The judge agreed to the joint submission. “A sentence of three years does give me pause,” Bellows said. “This sentence does not reflect Adam’s life,” she added, saying she must consider the Criminal Code and case law, as well as the seriousness of the offence. Duraes also must submit a DNA sample and is to have no communication with the Hirschfeld family. All other charges against Duraes were dropped.
