Ashley Plageman’s dying concerns were not with her own life, but her children’s.
“Save my kids,” were the last words Plageman, 26, said to a witness at the scene of a two-vehicle crash on June 24, 2012, near Hague, Sask. She and her five-year-old son, Treyden, died that day, while her three-year-old daughter and 22-year-old boyfriend were injured, but survived.
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The details surrounding Plageman’s final moments were revealed during a court appearance Thursday for 36-year-old James Heinrich Penner. He pleaded guilty to impaired driving charges and was sentenced to pay a fine of $4,000 for his actions.
Penner was not given a prison sentence due to injuries he sustained from the crash. The Crown explained that he currently needs constant care to cope with paralysis and a brain injury he sustained in the incident.
The judge explained that sending Penner to a penitentiary would essentially amount to a “death sentence” since no facility has the means to support him.
“Nothing I can do to him comes even close to what he’s done to himself,” the judge said on Thursday.
“The prison that you’re in now is one of your own making,” he said to Penner.
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The Crown explained how witnesses saw Penner driving in the wrong direction on Highway 11 moments before the crash. Police later concluded that his blood alcohol level was 0.35, more than four times the legal limit.
Penner was previously convicted twice of impaired driving and once for driving while disqualified, according to court records obtained by Global News. The incidents happened between 2001 and 2004.
Crown prosecutor Paul Goldstein said an appropriate sentence “would have been very lengthy penitentiary time,” however given Penner’s condition, a joint sentencing submission was agreed upon that included the fines.
“Sentencing is unique and we have to take into account all the circumstances, all the consequences,” Goldstein said.
“We looked into every single option and this was the only one that we could justifiably put before the court in this particular circumstance.”
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Plageman’s mother said she understood where the “sentence was coming from” and didn’t believe the decision was made to disregard the suffering that Penner’s actions caused her family.
“I know they didn’t have a choice,” Laureen Plageman said to reporters after the sentence was handed down.
“There’s another person’s life at stake; two were lost and I would hate to see three.”
More than a dozen family members and friends of Plageman attended Penner’s court appearance Thursday. Laureen said her daughter and grandson “had an inner beauty that just shone out and it shone bright.”
“Even little Treyden, when his little sister was in trouble, he was right there to comfort her to make sure she was OK.”
Despite the pain and suffering caused by the loss, Laureen said she has found it in her heart to forgive Penner for his actions.
“There’s a lot of people that can go around and criticize but maybe we need a little more people that can love,” she said.
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