Appeal of 10-year driving ban dismissed

KITCHENER — Ontario’s highest court has dismissed an appeal by a young Kitchener woman who caused a crash on the Conestoga Parkway that almost killed a man and sent six other people to hospital.

In 2015, Tabitha Frickey received a six-month jail sentence and 10-year driving ban — the maximum ban allowed — for dangerous driving causing bodily harm. The judge called her driving “atrocious.”

Frickey appealed the length of the ban, arguing five years would be more appropriate.

At the time of the 2012 crash, Frickey was just 18 and a firsttime offender. She maintained the trial judge erred in seeing general deterrence and denunciation as the primary sentencing goals.

“We disagree,” Justice Robert Sharpe of the Ontario Court

of Appeal wrote in a decision last week.

“The principles of denunciation and deterrence are particularly relevant to dangerous driving offences that are often committed by first-time offenders and otherwise law-abiding citizens. In these circumstances, the driving prohibition serves as the most practical means to ensure the protection of the public.”

Frickey got a break on the jail term because she was pregnant. In sentencing her in February 2015, Justice Robert Reilly said he would have jailed her longer — the maximum is 10 years — if she wasn’t due to give birth in July.

Because of the light jail sentence, Reilly boosted the length of the driving ban.

“The longer driving prohibition was necessary for the protection of the public,” Sharpe wrote. “We see no error in the trial judge’s decision.”

On Aug. 31, 2012, Frickey aggressively passed other vehicles at more than 120 km/h on the 90 km/h Conestoga Parkway. Approaching the flyover off-ramp to southbound Highway 8, she suddenly braked and swerved wildly across three lanes to try to exit.

Her car slammed into safety barrels past the point where the flyover veers off, spun, went airborne and landed on the roof of a car driven by Robert Jacques. Frickey’s car then rolled off and hit another vehicle on the ramp head-on. Seven people were sent to hospital. Jacques, now 49, had to be cut from the wreckage and almost died. He suffered a smashed jaw and brain injury and spent six months in hospital, including time in an induced coma.

In a 2015 victim impact statement, Jacques detailed the effects of the crash: He lost control of bodily functions, used a walker and was on a disability pension because he couldn’t work.

His girlfriend said their relationship became similar to “a mother and son” instead of a couple who planned to get married.

“This changed both of their lives forever,” said prosecutor Armin Sethi, who argued for up to 15 months in jail. Jacques remains severely disabled. Frickey had racked up three speeding convictions before the crash.

“These convictions did not serve as a deterrent,” Sharpe wrote.

In the months after the crash, Frickey got another speeding conviction and also a conviction for distracted driving.

“You have no business on the road,” Reilly told her.

The defence argued Frickey shouldn’t be held criminally liable for a snap decision to try to get to the ramp.

Reilly, however, said he had no doubt of her guilt, noting her actions were a “marked departure” from those of a reasonable driver, not a simple error of judgment or temporary inattentiveness. He called her driving “atrocious.”

Ironically, in April 2011, Frickey had come to the aid of a woman injured in a serious three-car crash on Highway 7/8, a short distance from where Frickey crashed.