Justice, it is said, is blind.
If that is true, then justice – in the death of 33-year-old cyclist Brad Dean and the life-altering injuries to Chris Jameson and John White – must also be profoundly deaf.
As a journalist of more than 20 years, eight of as a court reporter in the UK, I’ve sat through the gritty evidence of many a horrific trial and steeled myself against the harrowing accounts from witnesses and victims of crime.
Yet I’ve never been so affected in a courtroom as I was on Tuesday, as the wife, parents and brother of Dean and Jameson spoke directly to a 21-year-old driver, Michael Fan, who – in a “moment of inattention” - killed Dean on River Road on a Sunday morning in November, 2016.
It’s been more than 18 months since Fan went out partying all night, became his friends’ designated driver during an early morning casino stint and then, sober but with zero sleep, mowed down Dean and his cycling group as they travelled single file on their side of the road.
However, the torture of the loss was etched on the faces of those delivering victim impact statements to Fan as if it was yesterday.
Some of it was in anger, some in grief…most of it, I suspect, still in disbelief.
Every word, however, travelled directly from broken hearts, which wept for a justice system that clearly didn’t hear their grief or see their pain.
Due to apparent limited evidence, Crown Counsel only charged Fan with driving without due care and attention under the Motor Vehicle Act, as opposed to a criminal prosecution.
On Tuesday, after pleading guilty, he was fined $1,800 and banned from driving for a year.
To add insult to the irreparable damage of his “inattention,” he tried to oppose Crown’s suggestion of a driving ban.
Such a move calls into question the actual remorse felt by Fan.
Who, in their right mind, would have the audacity to sit in court, listen to people pouring out their heart-wrenching grief, yet complain about having to take the bus for 12 months?
Granted, Fan, a qualified realtor and kinesiology student, doesn’t appear to be an arch criminal and there’s no law pertaining to being “impaired by fatigue.”
The judge, however, said, this was “no accident.” Fan made a series of conscious decisions to have a bunch of shots the evening before and then stayed up all night and morning visiting a casino and drove home with no sleep.
Dean’s family and friends sat through most of the day-long sentencing, shaking their heads in disbelief and guffawing in disgust at much of the contradictions narrated in court.
They heard from Crown that, despite the horrific consequences, the focus should be on the degree of “inattention” in Fan’s driving.
However, the judge, from the outset of his surmise, said, “This is about the death of Bradley Dean.”
They heard from Crown and Fan’s lawyer how there was no impairment involved in Fan’s driving.
However, the judge indicated, in his first response, that there clearly was impairment – from fatigue.
So I ask, where is the justice here?
A small fine and a relatively short stint on public transit can’t be it.
The Deans appear to be an upstanding family. They deserve better. We all deserve better.
The judge spoke of “deterrent” and a message being sent to all in Fan’s position, that fatigue and driving can have a devastating outcome.
Sorry, judge, the remote prospect of losing a few days’ wages and having to buy a Compass card is not going to stop a young adult – and let’s be clear, Fan is an adult – from socializing all night, hitting the casino and driving home with no sleep.
Dean’s baby daughter will never know her father, his parents won’t see him become a dad and the lives of two of his best friends have been impacted severely for all time.
So I ask again…where is the justice?
