Crown seeks 31/2 years for drunken motorist who killed his passenger

Running a red light moments after driving at more than double the speed limit, colliding with a bus and killing his passenger should land a city man a 31/2-year prison term, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

But the lawyer for Gurpreet Kandola said a sentence of as little as two years behind bars would be adequate punishment for the remorseful offender.

Defence counsel Janna Watts told provincial court Judge Catherine Skene her client has made great strides in dealing with alcohol and mental-health issues he had before the March 22, 2015, crash.

“Mr. Kandola is sincerely and extremely remorseful,” Watts added.

Kandola, 28, earlier pleaded guilty to criminal negligence causing death in the crash, which killed his passenger, Harkarn Saini.

Saini, 18, died 18 days after the crash at the intersection of Macleod Trail and Willow Park Drive S.E.

Reading from a statement of agreed facts, Crown prosecutor James Thomas told Skene the offender had been seen driving recklessly in Okotoks more than a half-hour before the collision.

Thomas said a woman contacted the Okotoks RCMP to report an SUV had been driving at a high rate of speed, nearly striking her vehicle, cutting off other cars and driving into oncoming traffic before pulling into a liquor store.

The prosecutor told Skene that Kandola and Saini then went into the store and purchased a 750 mL bottle of cognac.

About a half-hour later, Kandola was captured on a speed-on-green camera at Macleod Trail and 162nd Avenue S.E. doing 129 km/h in an 80 km zone, Thomas said.

Minutes later, he collided with the bus after running a red light.

An accident reconstruction expert determined Kandola was travelling at 146 km/h in a 70 km/h zone 3.15 seconds before the collision, the prosecutor said.

“Mr. Saini sustained critical injuries in the collision and died as a result,” he said.

“Mr. Kandola is genuinely heartbroken and grief-stricken for what he has done to the Saini family.”

Kandola was also hospitalized, where police seized samples of his blood.

A forensic toxicologist with the RCMP crime lab in Edmonton determined Kandola’s blood/alcohol level at the time of the crash was between 274 and 307 mg of alcohol

Mr. Kandola is genuinely heartbroken and grief-stricken for what he has done to the Saini family.

per 100 mL of blood, Thomas said. The legal driving limit is 80 mg. In seeking a 31/2-year sentence, Thomas compared criminal negligence causing death to manslaughter. “Short of murder, or treason, these are the most serious offences in the Criminal Code,” he said.

Before Skene adjourned to consider her sentence, Kandola addressed the court.

“I was not in control of myself,” he said. “I do feel very bad for the Saini family. I’m sorry that I caused you guys all this pain and I’m very, very sorry.

“I hurt my own family as well,” he said. “It was never my intention to cause any sort of turmoil.”

Skene will hand down her sentencing decision Friday.