The driver in a Central Saanich crash that left one sister dead and another with life-changing injuries will not have his prison stay changed after his appeal was rejected.
Anthony Thomas was sentenced in 2022 to three and a half years in prison after being convicted of impaired driving causing death and bodily harm, and dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm.
Thomas was driving south down Central Saanich Road on Aug. 17, 2018, when he veered across the roadway and into the opposite boulevard, striking sisters Tracey and Kim Ward, who were out walking their dogs. Kim was pronounced dead at the scene, while Tracey survived with injuries requiring 24-hour care for the rest of her life.
During his trial, a toxicologist testified that samples of Thomas’ blood contained methamphetamine, amphetamine and Xanax at the time of the collision. She described the level of methamphetamine as significant and said if an individual was in the “crash phase” of ingesting it, they would experience extreme drowsiness.
Shortly before he struck the sisters, Thomas, who was 24 at the time, rear-ended a different vehicle. This would have been an indicator to a reasonable driver that they shouldn’t be on the road, the trial judge determined.
Thomas’ appeal argued, in part, that the trial judge erred by concluding he was culpable for the consequences of his driving while he was unconscious. That argument was rejected.
“While the trial judge did not negate every hypothetical alternative that could be drawn from circumstantial evidence before him, he considered the totality of the evidence and found only a single reasonable inference — that appellant’s sudden loss of consciousness was the result of his consumption of drugs,” the appeals court judges said in a written judgement released on Jan. 23.
However, Thomas also argued the trial judge shouldn’t have refused to apply a law precedent to stay his less serious charges.
Thomas’ conviction for causing an accident resulting in death and bodily harm was stayed at the time of his sentencing. His appeal argued the same precedent used by the trial judge to stay those two counts should’ve also applied to his dangerous driving counts.
The Court of Appeal stayed his dangerous driving charges while leaving the other convictions and sentences in place.
Thomas received a sentence of 42 months for his most serious conviction, impaired driving causing death, while his lesser convictions would be served concurrently during that time. The appeal judges noted that impaired driving causing death carries a higher maximum sentence of life in prison, while dangerous driving causing death has a max penalty of 14 years.
The judges found the trial court used the same violation to prove both the dangerous driving and impaired driving counts, which was Thomas’ “decision to drive when a reasonable person in his condition would have known that doing so would create a danger to users of the road.”
The appellant court judges determined that since the danger of Thomas’ decision to continue driving emanated from his impaired condition, there is no additional and distinguishing element of guilt for dangerous driving “in the particular circumstances of the trial judge’s findings in this case.”
Thomas will also serve a five-year driving prohibition that will begin upon his release.
READ: Driver in fatal Central Saanich crash found guilty of impaired, dangerous driving
