Families mourn losses at sentencing

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This article was published 02/04/2015 (3869 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

She had just killed two young women and injured three others after blowing through a red light while texting and speeding with alcohol in her system.

But a Winnipeg motorist, then 17, didn’t ask about the conditions of her victims in the immediate aftermath of the October 2010 crash. Instead, she quizzed police about how long she might lose the ability to drive.

“My driver’s licence is very precious to me,” she explained to an officer. Later that night, when informed she would be released on bail, the driver bristled when told her conditions would include abstaining from alcohol.

“Does that mean I can’t drink on my 18th birthday?” she asked.

The comments were presented Wednesday at the start of a two-day sentencing hearing. The accused, who is now 21 but can’t be named because she was a youth at the time, pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

The Crown is asking for her to receive an adult sentence, which would open the door for more serious sanctions and allow her name to be published. Her lawyer wants her to stay under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

Senhit Mehari, 19, and Amutha Subramaniam, 17, suffered fatal injuries as they drove home from a Halloween party. Both were graduates of Dakota Collegiate and were studying business administration at the University of Manitoba.

The women, along with three friends, were heading south in a Pontiac Sunfire on St. Mary’s Road when a westbound Chevrolet Cavalier ran a red light and slammed into the driver’s side of the Sunfire at the intersection of Bishop Grandin Boulevard.

The victims were minutes from home when they were hit. Family and friends of the victims, along with survivors of the crash, filled the courtroom Wednesday and presented nearly two hours of powerful victim impact statements.

“I was robbed of my sister, my mentor, my best friend,” Yonatan Mehari told court Wednesday. His statement, read on behalf of the family, described Senhit as a “rising star” who was going to make a huge impact on the world.

“She was an amazing and beautiful person inside and out. Senhit was humble, selfless, motivated, intelligent and one of the hardest working people I know. It’s hard to meet another person like her,” he said.

Heidi Subramaniam, sister of Amutha, lashed out at the young driver for causing so much pain.

“I was her big sister. I failed to protect her from someone who had no regard for human life,” she told court. “She was sweet, loving, carrying, honest. She deserves justice. Her dreams were taken away without her consent. Her future was taken away without her consent. One person’s reckless, preventable behaviour ruined her life and now ours as well.”

Court also heard Wednesday from the other occupants of the vehicle who were injured. They described how fortunate they were to survive the crash that killed their two friends.

‘I was her big sister. I failed to protect her from someone who had no regard for human life’

— Heidi Subramaniam, sister of Amutha

“It was a bad dream that I woke up to every day,” said Lysbeth Arthur, who suffered a broken clavicle and traumatic brain injury that required extensive rehabilitation.

“We lost two great people who were going to make a positive contribution to society,” she said.

Crown attorney Susan Baragar told court the accused had made the decision to drink and drive that night — even though she was a novice driver on probation, which meant she wasn’t allowed to have alcohol in her system when behind the wheel. She had been drinking at a house party that night and was going about 20 km/h over the speed limit at the moment of impact.

“There was no evidence of any attempt to stop,” Baragar said.

An examination of the accused’s phone shows she was texting on her cellphone with friends at the time of the crash. She also had alcohol in her system — in the range of between .07 and .12 based on an extrapolation. The Crown originally laid impaired-driving charges but stayed those on the grounds there was doubt as to whether she would have been over the legal limit of .08 at the time of impact, because blood wasn’t taken until some time after the crash.

The driver told police and paramedics she had downed “half a bottle” of rum that evening. She has been free on bail since the incident and is now living in Alberta. Her lawyer is expected to make his sentencing submissions today.

www.mikeoncrime.com