A woman charged in a fatal hit-and-run crash in London’s east end last month has pleaded guilty to a charge of manslaughter.
“I didn’t know anybody got hit, I didn’t know anybody got hurt,” sobbed 29-year-old Brittany Boyce, during an appearance Tuesday in a London courtroom.
Seated in the prisoner’s box on the left side of the room, Boyce was dressed in a grey sweater and a black winter coat, her dark hair pulled into a pony tail. Her lip began to tremble, as the judge, Wayne Rabley, explained the plea instructions.
“I know I did something wrong,” she said, her voice wavering.
“It’s so painful, I can’t imagine what they’re going through.”
Family members of the victim, 64-year-old Deborah Titus, listened quietly to the woman’s admission of guilt. It’s been less than a month since Titus, a sister, mother, and grandmother, was run over in a parking lot at Dundas Street and Ashland Avenue.
Boyce’s sobs grew louder, as the Crown attorney read a summary of what happened during the afternoon of Nov. 21.
The court heard how Boyce and another woman approached Titus as she was getting off her scooter, and asked for change for a $50 bill. Titus said she’d have change after her appointment; she was carrying a large amount of cash she’d saved to have dental work done, her daughter Donna Titus explained later.
At 1:46 p.m., Boyce went into the office, stole Titus’s purse, ran out, and got into a vehicle.
The Crown described how Titus ran out of the dentist’s office, and that there was a struggle between both of them and an employee of the dentist’s office, while Boyce sat in the driver’s seat of the vehicle. When the vehicle was put into reverse, Titus was dragged under one of the front tires. She died at the scene.
Boyce, who struggles with addiction to a variety of drugs including opiates and methamphetamine, says she didn’t realize anybody had been hurt until days afterwards. But she told the court she accepts responsibility for Titus’s death, and that she wants to get things done and over with as soon as possible for the sake of Titus’s family.
“She’s a young lady, who had a normal life at one point,” said Boyce’s defence lawyer, Jim Dean.
She used to be a mother, a wife, and a neighbour before getting caught up in addiction.
“And that’s why we ended up having a stolen purse turned into a manslaughter charge,” explained Dean.
But her cries didn’t draw any sympathy from Titus’s brother, Bob Chimney, or her daughter, Donna Titus.
“It’s hard to see someone who’s crying, that doesn’t seem like it’s meaningful,” said Donna Titus.
“She’s crying for herself.”
Titus described her mother as being the kind of person who would take the shirt off her own back, for someone in need.
“She was a kind-hearted loving person, she’s well missed at her building … she’s well missed by more than just family. It’s friends.”