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MAY 30, 2018 | Volume 31 No. 43
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Father of hit-and-run victim decries sentence TIM PETRUK
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
The man who struck and killed a Kamloops teenager while she sat waiting at an Aberdeen bus stop in 2016 not far from her family’s home has been ordered to spend about five more months behind bars, a sentence the victim’s father called “an injustice.” Jennifer Gatey died instantly on Nov. 6, 2016, when she was struck by a Jeep being driven by Jason Gourlay. The 42-year-old pleaded guilty to one count each of leaving the scene of an accident and obstructing justice. He was sentenced on Monday to 10 months in jail, a term cut in half by time already served, calculated at 1.5 days per day spent in pre-trial custody. The maximum sentence for leaving the scene of an accident in which a death has occurred is life in prison. Gatey was one day short of her 17th birthday when she was killed. Court heard she was sitting on the curb
beneath a streetlight, waiting to catch a bus to Thompson Rivers University. Gourlay told investigators he was momentarily distracted by his mother’s dog, which he had in his Jeep at the time of the crash, when he struck Gatey. After learning Gatey had died, Gourlay took his Jeep to a car wash and then swapped signal lights in an attempt to hide damage done in the crash. Speaking outside court on Monday, Cameron Gatey said his daughter’s death was not taken seriously by the court system. “I would argue that any reasonable person would look at a sentence like this and not say that justice has been done,” he said. “This is not justice. … There is a law on the books that suggests leaving the scene of an accident is a serious event. But what I’m seeing here is the courts saying this is not a big thing. I think the message is very clear to people — if you find yourself in this circumstance, the thing to do is flee because there’s
Jason Gourlay (left) enters Kamloops Law Courts on Monday, May 28, with defence lawyer Jeremy Jensen. Gourlay, 42, was sentenced to 10 months in prison (minus five months of time already served in pre-trial custody, calculated at 1.5 days for every day served) for leaving the scene of an accident and obstruction of justice in connection with the Nov. 6, 2016, death of 16-year-old Jennifer Gatey on Pacific Way in Aberdeen.
“I’ve come to
realize I will never have to come to court again to see his face, and it was somewhat rewarding to see him let out of there in handcuffs.”
LENIENCY IN LAW
Foulds column/A8
— CAMERON GATEY on Jason Gourlay who in November 2016 struck and killed Cameron’s daughter, Jennifer, then drove away and attempted to hide evidence of the hit-and-run.
a chance you will get away with it. “And even if you do get caught, you can always do the calculus and decide to plead guilty when it’s clear you’re going to be convicted of the crime.” Gourlay’s Jeep was seized within days of Gatey’s death, but he
was not charged until four months later. He has been free on bail since last summer. In court in April, Gourlay apologized to Gatey’s family. “I am so sorry for the pain and sadness and loss I have caused you and I am sorry for the painful months that
have passed since you have lost your daughter,” he said. “I made a very wrong decision not to stop and see what I had done that night. I made another awful decision, then, when I realized what I had done.” In delivering her sentence on Monday, B.C.
Supreme Court Justice Heather MacNaughton acknowledged the “irrevocable change” and “sadness” the circumstances of Gatey’s death brought about for her family and friends. “I am acutely aware of the devastating impact Jennifer’s death has had on her
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family and friends,” the judge said. McNaughton repeatedly cited section 718 of the Criminal Code of Canada, which deals with the purposes and principles of sentencing in Canada. Of the six objectives in the code — deterrence, denunciation, separating offenders from society, rehabilitation, reparations and responsibility — McNaughton said deterrence and denunciation were most applicable in her sentencing decision. See JUDGE, A4
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