‘I take full responsibility’: Sidhu tells victims of Humboldt Broncos collision

“I take full responsibility of what has happened. It happened because of my lack of experience and I am so, so, so, so sorry,” he said, fighting back tears. “I can’t imagine what you are all going through over what could have been avoided. I came out of the truck and I heard the kids crying. It took me time to realize it’s a bus.

“I have taken the most valuable things in your life,” he said.

“I have taken the most valuable things in your life,” _{-Jaskirat Singh Sidhu}

The trucker who caused the fatal collision could face up to 10 years in jail and a 10-year driving ban if the judge agrees with Crown’s submissions.

While prosecutors and defence lawyers made differing submissions on sentencing, both agreed on one main point.

“No other court has dealt with a case like this,” Sidhu’s lawyer Mark Brayford said.

“There is no other case like this in Canada. Not even close,” Crown prosecutor Thomas Healey added.

Healey spent the bulk of the morning outlining the Crown’s case against Sidhu. Noting there was little legal precedent to make a sentencing recommendation, the closest case he cited concerned a semi driver who ignored signs and lights in a construction zone. The collision in Ontario killed four and injured nine.

Healey’s submission echoed one main sentiment many victims expressed in their statements: All you had to do was stop.

“There’s five signs, and a highway and if you miss all of that there was an oncoming car stopped there and waiting for the bus to clear the intersection,” Healey said. “How do you miss that?”

Healey cited a detailed RCMP forensic collision reconstruction report, containing comprehensive re-enactments of the event. As part of their data collecting, RCMP traffic analysts parked a similar semi truck on the highway at the same time of day Sidhu was driving. The report concluded the sun did not obstruct Sidhu’s vision. All of the highway signs and upcoming intersection were visible.

_{A photo of what the road and weather conditions were from Jaskirat Singh Sidhu’s perspective before the crash. (submitted photo/RCMP)}

The report said Sidhu’s speed at the time of the crash was between 86 km/h and 96 km/h. Healey said the semi didn’t ‘roll’ through the stop sign.

“It was more like a rocket,” he said, citing there was no evidence Sidhu tried to stop.

“Glen Doerkson tried to stop,” Healey said of the Broncos bus driver. “He did all he could do.”

As Healey mentioned Doerkson, gallery members began to weep. The prosecutor also became emotional as he neared the end of his submissions.

_{Family members of Darcy Haugan, the Humboldt Broncos coach who died in the crash, leaving the Kerry Vickar Centre. (Aaron Schulze/northeastNOW Staff)}

There is “more heartbreak here than any of us have heard before,” he said, his voice shaking. “I hope I never, ever sit through one like this again.”

There is “more heartbreak here than any of us have heard before… I hope I never, ever sit through one like this again.” _{-Crown prosecutor Thomas Healey}

As Brayford began his defence submissions, he said this week began with 29 names on a page. But after hearing the many moving statements, he said he’s learned much more about the 29 people behind those names.

Brayford chose to share about one more person in the room: His client, Sidhu.

Sidhu turned 30 on Halloween and is the younger of two brothers. His parents own a 50-acre farm in India. He married his wife two months before the crash.

Brayford said Sidhu began his driver training three weeks before the crash. Before April 6, he completed his first week of driving alone.

Despite completing the training, Brayford said Sidhu still lacked the proper knowledge on how to complete his travel logs. As for highway driving, he said his client lacked the skill and confidence.

“He was in way over his head,” Brayford said.

The day before the crash, Sidhu left Calgary for Saskatoon where he dropped off a load and stayed the night. The following day, he drove to Carrot River but became lost and stopped to review his GPS.

“As he was driving to the intersection, he noticed his tarps on the trailers flapping, which was distracting,” Brayford said. “He stopped and re-tarped and then began again while being 10 or 15 minutes from the intersection.”

But as for what happened prior to entering the intersection, Brayford said it remains a mystery.

“I’m disappointed to say I don’t know what happened,” he said. “[Sidhu] simply doesn’t know.”

“I’m disappointed to say I don’t know what happened,” _{-Defence counsel Mark Brayford}

All his client remembers, Brayford said, is climbing out of the truck door as the cab of the semi unit lay on its side.

“My client beats himself up on ‘Why did I not see the signs?” Brayford said. “But the truth is that he didn’t.

“What elevates this to a crime is the amount of time he had to stop.”

Brayford could not provide a clear sentence recommendation but did ask for all sentences to be served concurrently, as all convictions stem from one single event.

Sidhu’s fate rests with Provincial Court Judge Inez Cardinal as she weighs the facts of the case over the next two months.

Sidhu is scheduled to receive his sentence at the Kerry Vickar Centre on March 22.

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by paNOW Staff

‘I take full responsibility’: Sidhu tells victims of Humboldt Broncos collision

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