Driver who struck Girl Guides tells families she’s sorry

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It was convicted driver Petronella McNorgan’s turn to say something.

The 79-year-old retired religion teacher walked to the witness box in the London courtroom, papers in hand, to finally address the families of a traumatized Girl Guide unit run down by McNorgan’s SUV.

She sat down and pulled on her glasses. “I appreciate this opportunity to offer a sincere apology and express to you my deepest sorrow for what happened on Nov. 30, 2021. Unfortunately, that was a horrendously life-changing day for each of you, your families and friends,” she said at the second day of her Superior Court sentencing hearing on Friday.

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“I can only imagine the suffering this accident has caused you and I’m sorry and devastated for the pain and anguish that resulted from this tragedy. I’d like you know that I would never intentionally hurt anyone and did my very best not to that night.”

Her voice started to break with emotion. “My whole life I cared for children and the fact that children were hurt and (a girl) died are painful realities that will stay with me forever,” she said.

“This has caused you so much suffering and pain which I will carry with me for the rest of my life. I’m truly sorry for what you have endured and for what you will continue to endure.”

In the public gallery quietly sat two rows of families and Girl Guide leaders, including the parents of the eight-year-old girl who was killed, who had been waiting to hear McNorgan say something, anything to them for more than two years.

Many delivered emotional, gripping victim impact statements at the first day of McNorgan’s sentencing hearing Thursday that told of ongoing pain and grief since the devastating crash that didn’t just kill a little girl and physically hurt her friends, but ibegan a chain reaction of ongoing medical issues, mental health challenges, strained friendships and marriages, lost finances, suicidal thoughts and survivor’s guilt.

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McNorgan was convicted by a jury in April after a three-week trial of one count of criminal negligence causing death and seven counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm. The jury heard that McNorgan accelerated, reaching speeds of 121 km/h, through the intersection of Riverside Drive and Wonderland Road, hitting a Jeep, a lamp post and a tree before striking the line of Embers (formerly known as Brownies) walking and singing on the sidewalk on their way to make snow owls at a nearby park.

The young victims whose identities are protected by court order and their families won’t know until Aug. 20 when Justice Pamela Hebner releases her decision what McNorgan’s sentence will be. The Crown and defence submissions are far apart. The Crown wants four years in prison, while the defence suggests the grandmother be given a three-year probation term with community service.

But on Tuesday, two days before the sentencing hearing began, McNorgan’s defence lawyer filed a notice to appeal her convictions and seek either a new trial or acquittals with the Ontario Court of Appeal intending to argue that the convictions were unreasonable and that Hebner erred in her jury instructions.

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McNorgan insisted at the trial that she did nothing wrong and that there must have been a mechanical malfunction that caused the SUV to speed up.

The jury heard there was nothing mechanically wrong with the SUV from five expert mechanics and the diagnostics showed the accelerator was pressed to the floor. The Crown argued McNorgan mixed up the gas and brake pedals and didn’t take any evasive action to stop the speeding vehicle.

Defence lawyer Phillip Millar spent the first hour Friday reading in the rest of the 57 reference letters vouching for McNorgan’s good character that he started Thursday, many from longtime friends and former teaching colleagues, all of whom described McNorgan as an honest, compassionate, hard-working, generous, caring and upstanding citizen.

“This isolated incident should be viewed as an aberration in an otherwise law-abiding life,” Millar said.

He asked Hebner to consider a three-year probationary term and community service, a similar sentence as was dealt to Ruth Burger, the London woman convicted in 2015 of two counts of dangerous driving causing death and two counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm for hitting the wrong pedal while backing up in the south London Costco, killing a little girl and her baby sister who was still in the womb, and injuring their mother and sister.

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That would keep the elderly McNorgan, who taught at both the elementary and secondary school level and is a breast cancer survivor and diabetic, out of custody.

“Ms. McNorgan has less years left than some of us and if put in an institution where it’s exponentially more difficult to deal with her illness, it would very likely speed up her passing,” Millar said.

Millar argued the convictions are “criminalizing what is driver error” and wasn’t intentional

“Nothing like this would every happen again and Ms. McNorgan poses no threat to security in her community,” Millar said.

“Only if she gets behind the wheel again,” Hebner interjected. “You suggested she is not a danger to the community. I suspect the community might think otherwise if she is driving a motor vehicle.”

Hebner called the fact scenario “horrific” and the major aggravating factor is the impact on the eight families.

But imposing a driving prohibition has a wrinkle. Unlike convictions for dangerous driving, criminal negligence convictions don’t include driving prohibition sentencing provisions. One could be included in a probation order, which can only be ordered if a sentence is two years or less.

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Assistant Crown attorney James Spangenberg reminded Hebner that McNorgan’s good character was never an issue. “The issue here was her driving on this day and the jury has found her criminally responsible.”

Outside the courthouse, Girl Guide leader Kelli Norton, who was with the Ember unit that terrible night, said “we’ve waited an awful long time for an apology,” while the victims and their families have all waded through emotional, tragic circumstances.

“I think everyone in London, everyone in Ontario, everyone in Canada should be watching this case extremely closely,” she said.

“The simple facts of the matter are this and they are uncontested: we were out that night for a walk on the sidewalk. We had every business to be there, and her car had absolutely no business to be on the sidewalk as well.”

The idea that McNorgan should ever drive again is “preposterous, infuriating and ludicrous,” Norton said.

“Once you become an adult, it doesn’t matter how old you get, you are still subject to the same laws,” she said.

“There is no reality where I can see that she should be driving.”

jsims@postmedia.com

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