Calgary man convicted of killing his wife in hit-and-run given lesser sentence

CPS units at the intersection of 34 Ave and 79 St N.W. in February 2020 during the investigation into the death of Melissa Rae Blommaert. Ronald Candaele was found guilty of second-degree murder in Blommaert's death.

The Alberta Court of Appeal has dismissed the main parts of an appeal from a Calgary man who killed his wife in 2020, but substituted his second-degree murder conviction for the lesser offence of manslaughter.

Ronald Candaele was arrested by Calgary police and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his wife Melissa Blommaert.

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Blommaert's body was found in the middle of 34 Avenue N.W. in Bowness on Feb. 10, 2020, and was pronounced dead at hospital a short time later.

Officials say her injuries were consistent with being run over by a large truck.

Candaele was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to 16 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

During sentencing, the court said he has subjected Blommaert to "a long, tragic cycle of domestic violence," which resulted in the "heinous offence."

"The forensic pathologist who testified at trial reviewed the injuries suffered by Ms. Blommaert. He said they occurred primarily on the head, abdominal cavity, pelvis and chest," the court document reads.

"He said she had multiple fractures of the ribs, multiple lacerations to the lungs, disruption of the pericardial sac, several fractures to the spine, blood accumulation in the chest cavity or hemothoraces, multiple injuries to the abdominal organs, primarily the liver, pancreas, and soft tissues, blood within the abdominal cavity or hemoperitoneum and a fracture of the pelvis."

The court heard that the victim would have died "within minutes" and the nature of her injuries meant it was unlikely she could have moved from where she lay in the middle of the road.

On April 9, Candaele appealed his conviction in the case, saying he didn't mean to kill Blommaert and didn't possess intent that would constitute second-degree murder.

The Court of Appeal dismissed his lawyer's arguments that Blommaert was killed by accident and that he was not driving dangerously on the night she was killed.

However, while the trial judge suggested that Candaele had a "degree of rage" against the victim and his driving pattern was "very strong evidence" he intended to kill her, the appeal court disagreed.

"While it was reasonable to infer from the totality of the evidence that Mr. Candaele deliberately accelerated towards Ms. Blomrnaert, this does not necessarily mean that he intended to run her down and kill her, or to cause bodily harm that he knew was likely to cause her death, being reckless about whether death ensued," the court document reads.

"It is equally reasonable to infer from the totality of the evidence that Mr. Candaele's intention was to bully and intimidate her to act as he wanted her to do.

"Mr. Candaele is to be given the reasonable benefit of the doubt that he was reckless in his unlawful act of dangerous driving but did not have the intention for murder."

With a new conviction in place, the matter has now been resubmitted for sentencing by trial court.