A Crown attorney says a man who admitted to dangerous driving that caused the deaths of two University of British Columbia students should serve three years in jail and be prohibited from driving for five years.
A sentencing hearing in provincial court in Richmond, B.C., has heard that Tim Goerner, an international student at the university, drank alcohol at a party the night of Sept. 25, 2021, although his blood-alcohol level wasn’t above the legal limit after the crash.
The court heard Goerner was driving on campus early the next morning between 100 and 120 kilometres an hour in a 40-kilometre-per-hour zone.
The two victims, Evan Smith and Emily Selwood, both 18, were on a sidewalk when they were hit from behind by Goerner’s vehicle, which also hit a street lamp and boulder before becoming airborne.
Both Smith and Selwood were pronounced dead at the scene, and Goerner pleaded guilty last month to dangerous driving causing death.
Goerner, dressed in a grey suit, sat in court with his head down, sobbing as Evan Smith’s mother read the first of numerous victim impact statements, where she told him “you robbed me of my baby, my little boy.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 6, 2023.
This is a corrected story. A previous version said the man was drunk, but the Crown says his blood-alcohol limit wasn’t above the legal limit.
The Canadian Press
