Dear editor:
I read the article about the plea bargain by Ryan Gibson concerning the brutal and senseless death of Brandon Thomas in December 2012.
Once again my heart went out to Ms. Thomas; not just because of having experienced what she has, or because I have to come to know Kim personally, but because I couldn’t imagine having my last moment of trying to seek justice for my son come to such a sudden and ‘clinical’ end.
One of the things that has continually amazed me about Ms. Thomas is her ability to channel her grief into constructive action. Her wish to have a mandatory five-year jail sentence and charges changed to vehicular manslaughter for impaired driving causing death, seem ridiculously easy to implement if there was true political will.
For a government (both federal and provincial) that claims to triumph victim’s rights with a litany of ‘tough on crime’ measures, why have you continued to sacrifice lives because you refuse to get serious on drinking and driving? I also question why Cochrane council hasn’t done more to assist families and victims of drinking and driving.
The Crown prosecutor’s explanation of this decision as being based on the certainty of conviction vs. the gamble of going to trial might be sufficient for some but not for Ms. Thomas.
Personally, I believe that if a surviving family member states that they wish to continue with a trial, that wish should be respected; we owe that much to the victim’s family.
Dan Cunin
