A P.E.I. man who was driving drunk when he hit an Amish horse buggy in a collision that led to the animal being put down will be back in court in January to hear his sentence.
Steven Robert Bradley appeared before Chief Judge Nancy Orr in provincial court in Georgetown Thursday where he pleaded guilty to drunk driving causing bodily harm.
Crown attorney Chad McQuaid told the court that on July 2 at around 11:45 p.m., the RCMP was dispatched to a collision between a vehicle and a horse and buggy in Peakes.
The police were told there were possibly two people injured at the scene.
McQuaid said when the police arrived, they found one man in one ditch and a second man in another.
When the police spoke to Bradley, he told them he had been drinking wine that night.
The court heard the police took Bradley to a hospital at around 1 a.m. where they got a blood sample that showed his blood alcohol level was almost three times the legal limit.
McQuaid said Bradley’s passenger had serious injuries that included a thoracic spine fracture and a small intracranial bleed inside his skull.
The passenger also needed to be in a body brace for several weeks.
McQuaid said the buggy driver wasn’t injured, but the horse had to be put down.
The court heard Bradley had a prior criminal record that included failing the breathalyzer, two counts of sexual assault and one count of assault.
After McQuaid finished his submissions, defence lawyer Thane MacEachern asked to have a pre-sentence report prepared.
Bradley will be back in court Jan. 23 for sentencing.
