11 hours ago
Swift News
An Invermere, B.C., woman has been sentenced to two years in prison, less a day, for a rollover crash in July 2024 that resulted in the deaths of three men.
The B.C. Supreme Court found that Haley Watson had a blood alcohol content more than twice the legal limit at the time of the deadly crash near Wilmer, B.C. on July 9, 2024.
In a sentencing decision posted on Monday, Justice Lindsay Lyster said that the deaths of the three men — 25-year-olds Brady Tardif and Jackson Freeman, and 21-year-old Gavin Murray — affected not just their families, but the wider community.
While Crown prosecutors had sought a five-year prison sentence for Watson, who the court heard was driving 118 km/h in a 50 km/h zone, Lyster found she had expressed significant remorse since the crash and attended counselling and rehabilitation sessions.
"With time, continued support and treatment, I believe that Ms. Watson will be able to consistently take full responsibility for her actions, and to use her experience to help others."
Watson's prison time will be followed by a three-year probation period. She pleaded guilty to one count of impaired driving causing death.
She was also sentenced to 240 hours of community service as part of her probation, and given a three-year driving prohibition.
The court heard that Watson had no previous driving offences at the time of the crash, and was a novice driver.
On July 9, 2024, she had been invited by Murray to his Wilmer home for a gathering. At the time, she had already had a meal with friends and drank two cans of an alcoholic beverage, according to an agreed statement of facts.
Wilmer is a rural community around five kilometres north of Invermere, in the Kootenays.