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.