A young man has now been sentenced for his role in a crash that killed 21-year-old Shelby Rowland one year ago.
She was a passenger in an all-terrain vehicle when it was struck by an SUV driven by Nicholas Forster.
Forster was originally charged with dangerous driving causing death and failing to stop.
However, after a series of plea bargains, he will only have to pay a fine.
The victim’s family is appalled.
On that deadly July afternoon, the SUV was heading down the road on the wrong side towards sister’s Lindsay and Shelby’s ATV.
Lindsay drove the ATV it in the ditch in an attempt to avoid it, but Shelby who was on the back took a direct hit and died at the scene.
The driver of the truck, Nick Forster, fled the scene but returned 15 minutes later.
He was charged with dangerous driving causing death.
But his case has been plea bargained down to a $750 fine for a non-criminal motor vehicle offence: leaving the scene of an accident.
Shelby’s family is outraged.
“It gives a message you can get away with killing someone and only get a $750 fine,” says Lindsay Rowland, Shelby’s sister.
“It’s disheartening; it makes you think that is all she is worth,” says Val Rowland, Shelby’s mother.
There were allegations, unproven and denied by the accused that they he been smoking pot.
Police at the scene said there was no probable cause for breath or drug tests and in the end, the Crown said criminal intent was hard to prove.
“We didn’t believe we had the evidence for a criminal charge, so the accused plead guilty to the charge under the Motor Vehicle Act,” says Trevor Cockfield, Crown Prosecutor.
“I am truly sorry, I understand your loss and your feeling toward me. It would be exact the same for my family,” says Nick Forster, who was driving the SUV that killed Shelby.
For the Rowland’s who lost a loved one, there is no real closure.
They say that will only come if they decide to go ahead with a civil suit.
“My closure was in this court case…but I didn’t get that and I don’t know what to do now,” says Lindsay.
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