The sister of a teen killed by a drunk driver lashed out at the legal system this week after the man who killed her sister - and another man in a similar incident - received only a 12-month prison sentence following his third drunk driving conviction.

Albert Stuart Nisbett, 54, of East Gate Lane, Pembroke was sentenced to a year in prison following his guilty plea to driving while impaired last Wednesday.

But the sister of teenage victim Donelda Euline Eve - who was killed in a drink-driving accident involving Nisbett in 1979 - said the Island legal system is far too soft on those who drink and drive.

She said she was outraged that the man who killed her only sister - as well as another man in 1995 incident - still had a licence and was still drinking and driving.

"I guess it's okay for you to kill someone when you have been drunk driving," said Miss Eve's sister, who asked not to be identified by name. "I think it is ridiculous that he is even out after killing two people."

Nisbett served three years in prison on a charge of causing death by dangerous driving for the death of Miss Eve. But he was back in court with another death on his hands by 1995.

Nisbett was sentenced to prison for two-and-half years in 1997 for a drink driving-related accident which resulted in the death of Azorean Antonio DeFrais, then 30-years-old.

"You would have thought he would have learned after the first time," said Miss Eve's sister of Nisbett's subsequent crimes. "He and others like him have to be stopped from having the right to take a life and then serve very little, if any, time in prison for their crime."

Miss Eve's sister was not alone in her cry for tougher penalties for drink drivers.

Following last Wednesday's sentencing, Insp. Terry Spencer, the Island's top Traffic officer, and Road and Safety Council chairman Dr. Joseph Froncioni both called for changes to legislation that would make driving while impaired a criminal offence and prevent those convicted of killing while impaired from returning to Bermuda's roads.

Fourteen years after the death of Miss Eve, her family still feels the loss, The Royal Gazette was told.

"The family just wants to be able to let it go now, it brings up a lot of very sad memories that we would rather forget," her sister said.