Driver drunk, but not guilty of killing passenger

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This article was published 05/02/2020 (2229 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A Winnipeg man has been found not guilty of impaired driving causing death and other charges, after a judge ruled it was his passenger who was responsible for the two-vehicle collision that killed her.

Instead, Sampath Wijewardena was convicted of a single count of impaired driving, with no finding of criminal liability in the 2018 death of 34-year-old Rachel Okimow.

“The court system sucks,” Okimow’s stepfather, Dwaine King, said outside court following the verdict. “He’ll lose his (driver’s) licence for a year or whatever, and that will be it.

“It can only go two ways — guilty or not guilty — and it’s his word against a dead person.”

Okimow died in early Feb. 11, 2018, on Dublin Avenue near Notre Dame Avenue, after the car she was a passenger in veered into the oncoming lane of traffic and collided head-on with another vehicle.

“We’re totally shocked at the acquittal,” the elderly driver of the other vehicle said outside court. “They put all of the blame on the person that is dead… We were in the car that he hit, and it just about killed us. The mind boggles.”

Wijewardena, 33, admitted to drinking and smoking marijuana at a friend’s house earlier that evening, but argued his intoxication played no role in the crash. Police estimated his blood-alcohol level at the time of the collision was as high as 0.15, approaching twice the legal limit for driving.

Wijewardena testified he met Okimow for the first time when he picked her up at the intersection of Furby Street and Sargent Avenue. During the drive, a dispute arose and Wijewardena decided to return her to where he’d picked her up.

Okemow, Wijewardena alleged, started smoking crack and searching the car for cigarettes.

When Wijewardena tried to stop her, he said Okimow became “agitated and aggressive,” ducked under the dashboard and pushed her hand down on Wijewardena’s foot over the gas pedal, causing the vehicle to accelerate.

Okimow grabbed the steering wheel, sending the vehicle veering into the oncoming lane, Wijewardena testified.

Provincial court Judge Keith Eyrikson said he had problems with much of Wijewardena’s testimony, but could not say events didn’t unfold the way he testified they did.

“While his evidence was far from perfect… I am left with a doubt, and it is large enough to be a reasonable doubt,” Eyrikson said.

“I remain suspicious of the evidence of the accused. I would even go so far to say he is likely guilty of the offences giving rise to the death of Ms. Okimow. However, suspicions and finding him likely guilty are not enough.”

Wijewardena testified he didn’t immediately apply the brake when Okimow pressed down on the gas pedal, leading Eyrikson to question why he didn’t make a more “forceful” effort to stop her dangerous behaviour.

Wijewardena testified he didn’t want to hit a woman, later amending his answer to claim he “didn’t want to inflame the situation.”

Medical evidence provided to court, however, suggested Okimow’s crash injuries were not consistent with being hit by the vehicle’s airbag, supporting the defence’s contention she was under the dashboard at the time of impact.

Witnesses, police and paramedics reported Wijewardena showed no obvious signs of impairment.

Eyrikson said he accepted that Okimow pressed on the gas pedal and grabbed the steering wheel as Wijewardena described, a circumstance he could not have anticipated.

“A reaction to it, sober or intoxicated, would not change this,” Eyrikson said. “I am hard-pressed to see how anyone could reasonably anticipate the actions of Ms. Okimow that evening as articulated by the accused. (Okimow) put herself in control of that vehicle.”

Wijewardena will be sentenced at a later date.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca