Sentencing for a New Year's Eve hit and run ended in a 12-month conditional sentence and a one-year driving ban in Estevan provincial court proceedings Monday.
Leah Paige Ballachay Smith avoided a custodial sentence after a joint submission was presented by her defence and Crown prosecutor Kelly Kaip to Judge Karl Bazin. Kaip said the submission called for a custodial sentence served in the community. A pre-sentence report was prepared saying it would not be contrary to the public interest that Smith serve her sentence in the community. Through tears, the complainant and her mother read victim-impact statements to the court.
It was Jan. 1 when Smith, a 19-year-old Estevan resident, struck Jada Styre with her car on King Street in Estevan, near the intersection with 13th Avenue. Legal Aid lawyer Robert Grimsrud, who represented Smith, said the windows were frosted up and she was changing a CD as she hit Styre, who was knocked unconscious.
At the instruction of the passengers in the car, Smith continued driving before stopping at the 7-Eleven store to get gas not far from where the collision took place. Paramedics attended the scene to administer first aid as Smith drove back past Styre on the ground, before adding some distance between herself and the incident. Styre was eventually taken to hospital and suffered a fractured scapula or shoulder blade.
Estevan Police Service officers found Smith and the passengers still in the car about 20 minutes later, and took them all into the police station. Smith had been drinking that night and provided two breath samples of .120 per cent.
Kaip told the court Styre underwent a lengthy rehab, that she was forced to take time off work and there was some initial concern to the possibility of head injuries. More important, she said, was Smith's treatment of the victim.
"It's clear that she knew she struck someone," Kaip told the judge. "She didn't stop because her friends told her not to. That's egregious behaviour. That's not how we want human beings to treat each other."
Wanda Styre, Jada's mother, told the court it "shook" her world to receive the knock on her door by police officers and told her daughter had been hit by a car and taken to hospital.
Speaking directly to Smith, she said, "You left (Jada) crumpled and broken on a cold night," and that she has lost trust in human nature.
Jada said in her victim-impact statement she was in so much pain it hurt to move.
"How could you be so helpless as to leave me on the side of the road?" she asked Smith.
The statements said Smith had made no attempt to reach out to contact Jada or apologize. Smith said she was regretful and wanted to go to the hospital the following day, but Grimsrud noted he had told her not to talk about the matter with anyone.
Smith made a statement to the court as well, which was directed at Styre, during which she apologized for her actions.
"It affected both of us, but I'm sure it affected you multiple times more than me."
There was disagreement between the Crown and defence in regards to the one-year driving suspension. Grimsrud said there was an accident and a crime, and the suspension addresses the accident not the crime.
Bazin accepted the joint submission and agreed with the driving suspension.
In his sentencing he said, "This is a serious offence. When we hurt someone in an accident, we do not leave them alone. We do not leave them without help. You put your concerns ahead of the victim's."
Among the conditions of the sentence are that Smith remain within the court's jurisdiction, not consume alcohol or non-prescription drugs, provide breath and urine samples when requested, pay restitution of $808.09 and abide by a curfew between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. Following the conditional sentence, Smith will be subject to a six-month probation order under the same conditions.
