Crown seeks adult sentence for driver in fatal Halloween 2010 crash

WINNIPEG — An adult sentence is being sought for a woman who pleaded guilty to killing two girls in a crash on Bishop Grandin Boulevard in 2010, when she was 17.

The woman, now 21, cannot be named because she was a minor at the time of the collision.

READ MORE: Driver in Halloween crash that killed 2 teens pleads guilty

Amutha Subramaniam, 17, and Senhit Mehari, 19, were killed on Oct. 30, 2010, when their car was T-boned on Bishop Grandin at St. Mary’s Road.

The then-teen who hit the car they were in pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm last September.

READ MORE: Mourning, and calling for change

She ran a red light while texting on her Blackberry, court was told in September. Her blood-alcohol level was between .07 and .12; the limit for drivers under criminal law is .08. She was also speeding — her cruise control was set 20 kilometres per hour over the speed limit.

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“At the time she was texting using her Blackberry, using her cruise control, she went through a solid red light and hit a vehicle,” the Crown said Wednesday. “She killed two of the people in the vehicle and two were seriously injured and one was fine.”

The driver sat next to the prisoner’s box with her parents on Wednesday, wiping away tears as details of the case were read out in court, while the gallery was filled with family and friends of the victims.

The Crown wants the young woman to be sentenced as an adult and will seek “significant penitentiary time.”

The defence wants her to be sentenced as a youth, which carries a maximum sentence of three years.

There were three other people injured in the crash, including Lysbeth Arthur, 18, who spent a month in a coma, and the driver of the car that was hit, Yohanna Asghedom, 18. Arthur was sharing the back seat with her two friends who died.

During the sentencing hearing Wednesday, survivors of the crash spoke on how it’s affected their lives.

“I am grateful I still have words, I can stand, I am here,” said Lysbeth Arthur, now 22.

Arthur was in a coma after the crash for a month.  She lost basic motor skills, she couldn’t walk or talk, suffered a brain injury that she still struggles with almost 5 years later.

“My pain will last forever, I’m blessed I’m lucky to be here but I have worked very hard,” read a tearful Arthur in court Wednesday. “I am living the consequences of another persons actions.”

One by one as six emotional statements were read in court, the accused wiped tears periodically, but her mother cried uncontrollably as Anita Subramaniam spoke. Anita’s sister Amutha Subramaniam was killed in the crash.

“My fathers health has deteriorated with the stress of what happened,” said Anita Subramaniam, “I was her big sister and I failed to protect her from someone who has no regard for human life.”

Senhit Mehari, 19, also died in the crash.  Her father, Yohannes Mehari said in court “The question of why this happened always goes through our mind, we’ve cried everyday for the last 4 years.”