Woman sentenced to 30 months for fatal collision in Yellowknife

A woman has been sentenced to two and a half years imprisonment after fatally hitting a man with a truck outside a Yellowknife apartment building in 2022.

Earlier this year, Hannah Lafferty was convicted of dangerous driving causing death in the April 2022 death of Germaine Mantla.

Members of both Mantla and Lafferty’s families were gathered in NWT Supreme Court on Monday morning when Justice Elizabeth Hughes sentenced Lafferty to 30 months imprisonment for the charge.

Several of Lafferty’s family members cried as she tearfully said goodbye to her daughter.

Once Lafferty is released from prison, she will be prohibited from driving for three years.

Range of available sentences ‘very broad’

The Crown had sought a sentence of five years while Lafferty’s defence lawyer had argued she should be given a conditional sentence, sometimes known as house arrest, between 18 months and two years less a day.

Justice Hughes, on Monday, said she felt the prosecution’s proposed sentence was too high while the defence’s proposal was too low.

She said the range of available sentences for dangerous driving causing death are “very broad” and depend on the offender and the circumstances surrounding the offence. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Hughes said she considered several factors in determining Lafferty’s sentence including the gravity of the offence and Lafferty’s background.

According to the court, Lafferty had driven her partner to the Bison Estates apartments on the evening of April 21, 2022. Lafferty was parked outside the apartments when his former partner approached the truck.

As the woman opened the driver’s-side door of the truck, Lafferty put the vehicle into drive. Lafferty then accelerated and began fishtailing in an effort to shake the woman off the truck when she hit Mantla, who was an innocent bystander, with the open door of the truck.

Mantla was 29 years old at the time. He spent the following day, his 30th birthday, in a coma at a hospital in Edmonton. He died of his injuries in August 2022.

Mantla’s family described the four months he was in a coma as “a waking nightmare.”

‘One cannot imagine her grief’

Hughes said Mantla is survived by two sons and had been the last living child of his mother, who previously lost two daughters.

“One cannot imagine her grief with the death of her third child,” the judge said.

Hughes said Mantla was killed in a place where he should have been safe and his death has had a profound impact on his family.

Hughes described Lafferty’s conduct as “a couple minutes of extremely bad judgement.” She said that Lafferty’s driving had been deliberate and was dangerous to the woman holding onto her truck as well as others in the area, and led to the death of one person.

Considering Lafferty’s personal circumstances, Hughes said she is a young Tłı̨chǫ woman from Behchokǫ̀ who was 22 years old and did not have a criminal record at the time of the offence.

The judge said Lafferty has a strong work ethic and strong family support and has expressed some remorse for Mantla’s death.

Hughes said Lafferty has faced adversity including bullying, depression and the death of her daughter’s father. She added that Lafferty has experienced “negative community messages” regarding her offence and lost her job after she was convicted.