A Port Alberni woman has been sentenced to five years in prison for impaired driving causing death.

Belinda Hainsworth was the driver in a fatal crash that occurred near Whiskey Creek in 2019. Gareth Rees, known as Gary, was driving the other vehicle and died at the scene. Rees was 74 years old and a father of two.

Hainsworth was sentenced to 1,427 days in Nanaimo Supreme Court, after the court took into account 398 days spent in pre-sentence custody, according to Damienne Darby, communications counsel for the B.C. Prosecution Service.

On a second count of impaired driving causing bodily harm, she was sentenced to two-and-a-half years, to be served concurrently.

The court also imposed a driving prohibition for 10 years, a firearms prohibition for life and a DNA order.

Rees served 27 years with the RCMP in Saskatchewan before retiring with his wife to Vancouver Island.