Woman appealing conviction in fatal collision outside YK apartments

A woman is appealing her conviction of dangerous driving causing death for fatally hitting a man with a truck in Yellowknife.

Hannah Lafferty was found guilty of the charge following trial in April 2025.

Justice Elizabeth Hughes rejected Lafferty’s argument that she had been driving in self-defence to avoid a fight with another woman when she accidentally hit Germaine Mantla, an innocent bystander, outside the Bison Estates apartments in April 2022.

Mantla died as a result of the collision.

Hughes concluded Lafferty’s driving was “a marked departure from the standard of care expected of a reasonable person” in the circumstances.

The judge sentenced Lafferty to 30 months’ imprisonment in July 2025. She is currently serving her sentence in Edmonton.

In the NWT Court of Appeal on Tuesday, Lafferty’s lawyer, Nicola Langille, argued her client’s conviction should be overturned and a new trial ordered.

Langille said Hughes made legal errors in her decision, including failing to conduct a thorough, standalone analysis of Lafferty’s self-defence claim, among other issues.

Langille argued Hughes did not adequately consider that Lafferty had attempted to avoid a confrontation with the other woman, and the judge was incorrect in concluding that Lafferty was “overly fearful” in the circumstances.

“This took place in a matter of mere seconds,” Langille said, adding that Lafferty was in “a volatile and evolving situation.”

Crown prosecutor Nakita McFadden, however, disputed that Hughes made any errors in law that warranted the intervention of the appeal court.

She said Hughes had adequately considered a range of factors in rejecting Lafferty’s self-defence argument and her decision was reasonable.

The appeal court has reserved its decision in the case.