Justice system failed Humboldt bus driver

Re: Parker Donham: The driver who killed the Humboldt Broncos received too harsh a sentence Parker Donham made my day with his excellent column about the problem with victim-impact statements. I have always been against them and the case of Jaskirat Sidhu is a perfect example of why they have no place in a courtroom. We all feel tremendous empathy for the victims, but that emotion should not play a role in the sentencing. The type and degree of misbehaviour should.

Sidhu had not been drinking or taking drugs, and was not speeding or texting. An accumulation of problems caused him to make a mistake which caused a tremendous tragedy. Had the bus been one minute later, nothing would have happened. What does society gain by locking him up for eight years? The world has enough tragedies as it is. We do not need to add to them by potentially ruining an already devastated man’s life. Since the Canadian law, however, requires that the magnitude of the consequences be taken into consideration, the law must be changed. A conditional sentence of a few years would have shown the justice system to be working for society as a whole rather than responding to some of the parents’ desire for revenge.

Radmila Swann, Ottawa