The scene from Calgary showing the wreckage of a car after it was hit by a cement truck, killing the five occupants, Friday, December 7, 2007. Driver Daniel Tschetter has been sentenced to eight years in prison. (Sun Media/Stuart Dryden)

CALGARY -- Alberta trucker Daniel Tschetter was sentenced today to five years and 6 months in prison for the horrific traffic deaths two years ago of five people, including three children.

Provincial court Judge Bruce Fraser rejected a call for leniency, instead ordering Tschetter into a federal penitentiary.

Defence lawyer Balfour Der had sought a term of probation with house arrest for the cement truck driver.

But Fraser agreed with Crown prosecutor Jonathan Hak a severe punishment was warranted, although he stopped short of the 10- to 15-year term proposed.

Tschetter was convicted in May of five counts of manslaughter in connection with the Dec. 7, 2007, deaths of five people sitting in a car he rear-ended while speeding northbound on Macleod Tr. S.E., in Calgary, Alta.

Killed in the crash were Chris Gautreau, 41, and his two daughters, Alexia, 9, and Kiarra, 6, along with his girlfriend, Melaina Hovdebo, 33, and her son, 16-month-old Zachary Morrison.

The force of the crash at 194 Ave. S.E. was so great it drove Gautreau's vehicle nearly the length of three football fields before it came to a stop in front of Tschetter's rig in a crumpled heap.

Fraser reduced what would otherwise have been an eight-year sentence by two years because Tschetter intended to plead guilty to criminal negligence from the outset and another 5 1-2 months for pre-trial custody.

kevin.martin@sunmedia.ca