EDMUNDSTON, New Brunswick (AP) – A New Brunswick woman has been ordered to serve two years of house arrest for the hit-and-run death of a Maine woman.

Vicky Madore Fraser, 29, was sentenced Wednesday in Provincial Court in Edmondston by Judge George Perusse. She was the driver of a car that struck and killed Connie Bellefleur, 21, early on Aug. 3, 2002.

She and her sister, Kristy Bellefleur, were walking back to Madawaska, Maine, after attending the annual Foire Brayonne festival. At the time, the Madawaska native was working as a pediatric nurse in Portland, Maine.

The street was crowded with thousands of festival participants, but no one stepped forward who could positively identify the driver. Eleven months passed before authorities brought charges.

Police initially focused on Fraser’s boyfriend as driver of the car. The couple married three days after the accident and could not be forced to testify against each another under Canadian law.

Defense lawyer Dave Lutz said Vicki Madore Fraser admitted being the driver because she said she could not live with the guilt.

“The only reason she is standing before you today is she called and told me she could no longer live with what she had done,” he said.

Under the sentence, she may leave her home only to go to work or to seek emergency medical help. She must not consume any alcohol during that time and must complete 240 hours of community service over the next 12 months.

She will be under the watch of a court-appointed supervisor and is prohibited from operating a motor vehicle in Canada for five years.

AP-ES-04-22-04 0848EDT