In emotional statements to a Calgary court, the family of nine-year-old Victoria Desjardins shared the weight of her death with the man who admitted to killing her.
On Boxing Day in 2024, Duane Nepoose careened through a red light at a Calgary intersection with a stolen minivan and rammed into the side of Desjardins’ family’s car.
Desjardins was taken to hospital where she died.
“You took one of the greatest things life has to offer, a beautiful little girl,” said her father, Trevor Desjardins, in a victim statement read by the Crown prosecutor on Friday.
“I can now only imagine what she would have become,” he added.
Nepoose, 31, previously admitted to charges of dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm, robbery and fleeing a police officer.
Justice Indra Maharaj reserved her sentencing decision for a later date and said that rushing a decision would be disrespectful to the family and unfair to Nepoose.
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The Crown prosecutor previously argued Nepoose should be sentenced to between 9 1/2 and 10 1/2 years, along with a lifetime driving and weapons ban.
Nepoose’s defence team said his sentence shouldn’t exceed nine years, including credit for time served, and his driving ban should only last five years after the end of his sentence.
Maharaj addressed the family and said she didn’t want them to leave the courthouse focused on the length of the sentence.
“There is no number that will change what happened and there’s no way to quantify your loss,” she said.
“But I have a job to do and that job is the job of the law. And I have to review the law and apply the law.”
Prosecutor Todd Buziak also read a victim statement for Dave Anderson, a close friend to Trevor Desjardins, who recalled rushing to the Alberta Children’s Hospital after the collision.
“Trevor walked out of the room as a completely shattered man. All he could say was, ‘My baby is gone,'” the statement read.
Anderson recalled seeing Victoria’s mother hold her “lifeless hand,” and screaming out for her.
Nepoose, seated in the prisoner’s box in a dark blue-and-black jumpsuit, often stared at the floor or straight ahead as the statements were read. People in the court gallery wiped tears from their eyes.
The court also heard from Halima Ahmed, who was in another vehicle and was injured by Nepoose’s driving.
Ahmed said she thought she was dying after the crash and has struggled with anxiety, depression, chronic pain and her own mortality.
She said she has become quieter and lost her joy in life.
Later, Nepoose pulled a piece of paper from his chest pocket and read it to the court.
“I just want to start off by saying that we are here because of my actions and decisions I made that day,” he said.
“I want to say that I’m sorry to the family — sorry for taking away moments that should have been, sorry for putting you all through the trauma, pain, hurt and sorrow.”
Kate Webb-Harris authored the Gladue report prepared for Nepoose.
Gladue reports are meant to help judges take Indigenous experiences into account during sentencing, including traumatic factors like residential schools.
Webb-Harris testified that Nepoose had a very traumatic background. She detailed how he was taken into the care of his uncle at about five years old and was sexually and physically abused almost daily.
“These people who were supposed to be protecting you, you know, they didn’t,” she said.
Webb-Harris also said his mother, father and most of his 12 siblings are dead.
Sam Taylor, one of the defence lawyers for Nepoose, argued his stealing the minivan should be considered mild on a spectrum of robberies because there was no assault or gun.
Taylor also said that Nepoose is cognitively impaired and is remorseful, both of which should be mitigating factors in his sentencing.
Buziak disagreed, stating Nepoose struck the owner of the stolen vehicle and also partially blamed the police pursuit for his actions.
He also disagreed that his cognitive abilities should play a role in sentencing.
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