The drivers involved in an April 2017 crash that resulted in the deaths of two young girls and one woman pleaded guilty to driving without due care and attention and were sentenced.
Judicial system in Canada/Shutterstock
Monday, in Port Coquitlam provincial court, Hamed Darbarpar was sentenced to one day in jail and six months of probation for his role in the crash that killed Ella Reese Hernandez, 9, a Coquitlam resident and her cousin Tyler Mollie Wong Hernandez, who was three and a New Westminster resident.
Darbarpar was 20 and living in Port Coquitlam when he was charged with driving without due care and attention last May.
Judge Deirdre Pothecary presided over the case during which Darbarpar received his sentence in front of a crowd that also included members of the Hernandez family.
Ella Reese Hernandez, 9, a Coquitlam resident was one of two children who died in the Lougheed Highway crash. A woman, 30, was also killed in the April 28, 2017 incident. Tri-City News file photo.
Darbarpar’s sentencing follows an earlier sentencing of another driver, Adam Goulding, who on Dec. 16, 2018, was also sentenced to one day in jail and six months of probation after pleading guilty to driving without due care and attention.
The court proceedings bring some closure to the case that rocked the Tri-Cities community two years ago when the public learned one of the girls attended a School District 43 school, which provided grief counselling to students at the time.
A YouCaring fundraising page was also set up online, which raised more than $78,000 for the families.
And while the court proceedings have come to a conclusion, the family of Tyler Hernandez is still grieving.
Tyler Mollie Wong Hernandez, 3, whose family is from New Westminster, also died in the crash. Photo submitted.
"The lives of those left behind, our lives, have been forever changed and teeters on the brinking of breaking to a point of no return. Every day, every moment, every breath, is a struggle.Three lives were taken, and I know for a fact, that Ella and Tyler were going to be contributors to this world and do great things. Two amazing, innocent, young souls are gone... the future will never know what it had lost," stated Audrey Wong, mother of Tyler Mollie Wong Hernandez in a statement to the Tri-City News.
According to Coquitlam RCMP at the time, three vehicles were involved in the accident north of Pitt River Road just before 6:20 p.m. April 28, with eight occupants in all.
In addition to the two young girls, who were in one vehicle, a 30-year old woman was killed in the accident.
