The family of a 20-year-old man killed in a 2013 impaired driving crash say they want the woman responsible for his death to serve “every single day” of her four year sentence.
Kendra Stuart, now 23, was speeding and impaired when she crashed her Honda Civic on Henderson Highway the morning of Oct. 5, 2013. She missed a curve in the road and smashed into a driveway entrance which vaulted the car into the air.
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Her 20-year-old passenger, James Hayes was in the backseat of the car and was killed.
Stuart was convicted of impaired and dangerous driving causing death.
On Thursday, she was sentenced to four years in jail and banned from driving for a seven and a half years.
“Ms. Stuart clearly, intentionally took risk (while driving impaired),” Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond said during the sentencing. “The extreme violence of the collision is the result of her actions alone.”
Stuart’s family wept in the front row as the sentence was read.
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The family of 20-year-old Hayes hugged and cried tears of relief.
“Nothing will be enough. Nothing will bring James back. It’s been a long road and we’re glad its over,” his sister Bonnie Krut said.
“I’m hoping that our family can grieve now. Have a little bit of closure because that hasn’t happened completely, being in and out of the courts for years.”
“The judge got it right,” Hayes’ father Tim said. “Nothings going to bring back my son. Nothing is going to make us feel better. But four years… I hope she does it all. Every single day.”
Hayes was about to become a father when he was killed. His daughter is now four years old and his family said Stuart took away her chance at ever getting to meet him.
“He would have loved her so much,” Krut said through tears. “The way that he cared about people and made people feel important. He would have loved her so much. She’ll know that. I just wish she could have heard his laugh ’cause it was one of a kind.”