Appeal denied for woman convicted of striking girl in Saanich crosswalk
A woman who was convicted of crashing into a young girl at a crosswalk in Saanich, B.C., in December 2017 has had her appeal denied.
In 2020, Tenessa Nikirk was found guilty of dangerous driving for a crash that left 11-year-old Leila Bui with traumatic brain injuries.
During the trial, the court heard that Nikirk was speeding, passing vehicles, and texting before the crash occurred.
Two weeks after sentencing, Nikirk filed an appeal of her conviction and was released on bail until her appeal hearing was complete.
The hearing began in mid-January, and on Tuesday, a B.C. judge denied Nikirk's appeal, which was based on factors such as reaction time, credibility of witnesses and experts who testified during trial, and if she was manually texting at the time.
"Ms. Nikirk’s theory on appeal, in summary, is that the verdict was unreasonable because the child could have been hidden from Ms. Nikirk’s view until the child ran into the crosswalk, at which point it was too late for Ms. Nikirk to react," reads the appeal ruling written by Madam Justice Susan Griffin.
Griffin found that while it is conceivable that Bui entered the crosswalk before an average driver would have had time to react, the fact that Nikirk was speeding before and at the time of the crash demonstrated a failure to observe obvious cues to use caution around a crosswalk.
The appeal judge also found that it was irrelevant if Nikirk was manually texting or using another method since the "sheer number and frequency of texts" sent around the time of the crash meant her thoughts were elsewhere at the time.
"This case serves as a very sad cautionary tale that texting while driving can ruin lives," wrote Griffin.
"In my view, the inference from all the evidence is compelling: that Ms. Nikirk was texting with someone repeatedly and was driving distractedly and impatiently and that this was part of a dangerous pattern of driving that led to her driving at full speed into a child in the crosswalk."
In December 2020, the then-24-year-old Nikirk was sentenced to two years in a federal penitentiary and is banned from driving for three years upon her release.
With her appeal dismissed Tuesday, she is required to surrender herself today to begin serving her sentence.
During the trial, Crown described Bui's injuries as "catastrophic," including a permanent brain injury, a broken neck and a ruptured spleen.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Honda to get up to $5B in govt help for EV battery, assembly plants
Honda is set to build an electric vehicle battery plant next to its Alliston, Ont., assembly plant, which it is retooling to produce fully electric vehicles, all part of a $15-billion project that is expected to include up to $5 billion in public money.
BREAKING New York appeals court overturns Harvey Weinstein's 2020 rape conviction from landmark #MeToo trial
New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 rape conviction, finding the judge at the landmark #MeToo trial prejudiced the ex-movie mogul with improper rulings, including a decision to let women testify about allegations that weren’t part of the case.
1 arrested in northern Alberta during public shelter order
Residents of John D'Or Prairie, a community on the Little Red River Cree Nation in northern Alberta, were told to take shelter Thursday morning during a police operation.
Secret $70M Lotto Max winners break their silence
During a special winner celebration near their hometown, Doug and Enid shared the story of how they discovered they were holding a Lotto Max ticket worth $70 million and how they kept this huge secret for so long.
Remains from a mother-daughter cold case were found nearly 24 years later, after a deathbed confession from the suspect
A West Virginia father is getting some sense of closure after authorities found the remains of his young daughter and her mother following a deathbed confession from the man believed to have fatally shot them nearly two decades ago.
Monthly earnings rise, payroll employment falls: jobs report
The number of vacant jobs in Canada increased in February, while monthly payroll employment decreased in food services, manufacturing, and retail trade, among other sectors.
First in Canada procedure performed at London, Ont. hospital
A London man has become the first person in Canada to receive a robotic assisted surgery on his spine. Dave Myeh suffered from debilitating, chronic back pain that led to sciatica in his right now and extreme pain in his lower back.
Doctors say capital gains tax changes will jeopardize their retirement. Is that true?
The Canadian Medical Association asserts the Liberals' proposed changes to capital gains taxation will put doctors' retirement savings in jeopardy, but some financial experts insist incorporated professionals are not as doomed as they say they are.
Something in the water? Canadian family latest to spot elusive 'Loch Ness Monster'
For centuries, people have wondered what, if anything, might be lurking beneath the surface of Loch Ness in Scotland. When Canadian couple Parry Malm and Shannon Wiseman visited the Scottish highlands earlier this month with their two children, they didn’t expect to become part of the mystery.