The Supreme Court of Canada heard Braydon Riley Wolfe’s appeal Tuesday and reserved its decision until a later date.
In May 2021, Wolfe, now 34, was sentenced in Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench to three concurrent terms of incarceration with a global term of six years. The sentencing judge additionally ordered a driving prohibition for 10 years for each of the two counts of criminal negligence causing death and a driving prohibition for seven years for criminal negligence causing bodily harm.
In November 2022, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal dismissed Wolfe's appeal of the sentence.
According to court documents, on Aug. 21, 2017, after consuming alcohol, Wolfe was driving his Chevrolet truck on the wrong side of Highway 16 near Langham for a considerable distance at night. He caused a head-on collision with a Toyota Solara that seriously injured Sangin Niazi, and killed her husband, Mohammad, 62, and their 25-year-old daughter Zohal.
The Niazi family was returning to Saskatoon after visiting family in Edmonton.
That night it was “pitch black outside” and “all of a sudden there was something in front of them,” testified Sangin Niazi at Wolfe’s trial in Saskatoon.
Niazi recalled that it was large and dark like a container.
“There was not even time to scream before she heard a horrendous noise, a crash,” said the judge when finding Wolfe guilty in December 2020.
Niazi thought she must have been unconscious when she opened her eyes as she could see the car’s floor mats above her head and realized their car was upside down, reveal court documents. She couldn't move, and was unsure where she was in the car.
She recalled being “squished” so much she could barely turn or move. She had been wearing her seat belt. She realized they had been in a serious collision and began screaming for help. She was short of breath. She saw a hole in the car and managed to put her face through, seeing grass. She concluded they must be in the ditch.
She kept screaming for help.
She didn't know if her husband and daughter were alive but managed to find his arm. She felt for his pulse; there was none. She reached for her daughter but couldn't get to her and there was no response from the back seat, according to court documents.
During Wolfe's trial, Niazi told the court that the loss of her husband and daughter were profound.
She said her life had changed completely, having lost two of the most important people in her life. She has difficulty accepting this and suffers from emptiness, saying her house seems cold and dark.
She and her husband had been together for more than 36 years. She said he was “the love of her life,” and she lost him. Her daughter was only 25, full of hopes and dreams and a good future, and she lost her, said the judge in Saskatoon Court of Queen's Bench in December 2020.
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