New trial ordered in fatal crash case

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This article was published 28/07/2023 (835 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new trial has been ordered for a Manitoba truck driver found guilty of a fatal highway collision after it was discovered a judge used incorrect information to convict him.

Sukhbir Singh was convicted earlier this year of one count of dangerous driving causing death and sentenced to one year in jail for the Feb. 28, 2020 collision that killed 34-year-old Andrew Labossiere.

Singh was behind the wheel of a heavy-duty semi-trailer truck, heading south on Highway 13 when he drove through a stop sign at the intersection of Highway 2 and collided with Labossiere’s eastbound pickup truck, sending it into a ditch. Labossiere died at the scene.

Singh admitted at trial he drove through the stop sign but argued he was not guilty of dangerous driving as his driving did not represent a “marked departure” from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person.

Singh argued it was dark, he had reduced his speed, was unfamiliar with the road, was not distracted by his cellphone or intoxicated, and signs warning of the intersection were close together, all pointing to a “momentary lapse of attention,” not the marked departure required for a dangerous driving conviction.

Provincial court Judge Robert Heinrichs disagreed. In his decision, he said Singh failed to note the reduced speed zone and missed other “traffic warning signs and rumble strips before speeding through a stop sign.”

In delivering his decision, Heinrichs made repeated reference to a photo exhibit showing a reduced speed zone sign. That particular sign, however, was on Highway 2, not Highway 13, the one Singh was driving on.

Singh contested his conviction before the Manitoba Court of Appeal, arguing Heinrichs’s ruling was based on a “misapprehension of evidence,” resulting in a miscarriage of justice. The Crown supported Singh’s call for a new trial.

In a written ruling released Thursday, the Manitoba Court of Appeal found Heinrichs’s error played an “essential part” in his reasoning to convict Singh.

“If there has been a material misapprehension of the evidence, the accused has not received a fair trial,” Justice Holly Beard wrote on behalf of the court. “The correct remedy is that of overturning the conviction and ordering a new trial.”

No new trial date has been set.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca