A man is awaiting sentence after being found guilty in relation to a traffic collision which claimed the life of a woman from the Tomahawk area.
The incident took place August 24 2017 and took close to four years to come to trial after a lengthy RCMP investigation.
Several points about the events of that evening were not in dispute. During a Court of Queen’s Bench hearing both the defence and prosecution agreed that Trisha Jabs, 36, died at the scene of a motor vehicle rollover on a stretch of Hwy 759 between her home and the hamlet of Tomahawk. There was agreement that the vehicle had been speeding, possibly in excess of 200 km/hr, and that it rolled several times before coming to a stop. What was not agreed upon was the question of who was driving at the time.
Last week Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Shaina Leonard ruled that the owner of the car, Dean Mitchell Black, had been behind the wheel when the collision took place and convicted him of dangerous driving and criminal negligence causing death.
Black’s defence counsel had argued that Jabs had been driving, with Black in the passenger seat. However, after hearing evidence from a number of witnesses, including first responders on the scene, Leonard concluded that was not the case.
“When all of the elements of the physical evidence are considered together, it leads to no other rational conclusion than that Mr. Black was the driver of the vehicle,” she said in a written judgement.
Black suffered spinal injuries and a fractured rib in the crash.
During the trial Black had entered guilty pleas to other charges including breaching a no contact order with Jabs. He is due to be sentenced on all charges at a later date.
