Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The driver in a crash that killed a Rhode Island woman on Long Island last year was sentenced Thursday to two to six years in prison, Newsday reported.

Ansaf Ibrahim, 22, of Port Washington, had earlier pleaded guilty to killing Desiree Mesolella, 19, an Adelphi University student from Lincoln, R.I., in a drunken driving crash June 22, 2008, in Port Washington, Long Island, Newsday reported.

Mesolella was the daughter of Vincent J. Mesolella Jr., a former state representative from North Providence.

Nassau prosecutors said Ibrahim and three girlfriends, including Mesolella, had been at a Long Beach nightclub before the crash, according to the Newsday report. They said Ibrahim was drunk, speeding and taking the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, which can affect a driver's ability to control a vehicle, when she crossed the center divide and hit another car.

Desiree Mesolella was a 2006 graduate of St. Mary Academy-Bay View in East Providence. She had been a past contestant in the Miss Rhode Island Teen USA pageant, gaining recognition in the evening gown portion of the 2005 contest.

Mesolella's father was deputy Democratic majority whip for former House Speaker John B. Harwood, D-Pawtucket. He later became chairman of the Narragansett Bay Commission, the state's largest sewage-treatment agency.

During Thursday's sentencing hearing, Vincent Mesolella showed the judge a photo of himself with his daughter when she was just a toddler.

''Her eyes are saying, 'I feel your love, and I know you won't let any harm come to me,' " Mesolella said. "I failed her."

The Mesolella family questioned Ibrahim's remorsefulness, although Ibrahim told the judge, "I loved Desiree with all my heart."

Judge George Peck had earlier agreed not to send Ibrahim to an upstate prison for her guilty plea, but changed his mind after Mesolella's family objected.

Vincent Mesolella said he was relieved by the sentence, but his family's pain won't go away.

''This is a life sentence," he said outside court.

-- With Journal archival reports

 Tags  car crash Desiree Mesolella Lincoln RI Long Island NY sentencing

Comments

unclekevin said:

too bad she wasn't a pro football player then she would have gotten only 3 weeks in jail.

Link | July 10, 2009 2:10 PM
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Denise said:

Too bad it didn't happen in Rhode Island, she would have gotten the same 3 weeks. New York doesn't play when it comes to breaking the law. 2-6 is still a slap on the wrist. Drunk drivers that kill people should be charged with murder with a weapon. You don't get drunk and get behind a wheel, that is NO accident. Welcome to New York State DOCS Ms. Ibrahim, it's no ACI my dear.

Link | July 10, 2009 4:08 PM
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