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He was inspecting two box culverts — cement structures that allow water to flow under a road or bridge — when the straddle crane holding one of the structures failed. A forklift had to be used to lift the block off his arm. He was taken to hospital, where his right arm was amputated at the shoulder.

The Morphews hadn’t known the sentence would be handed down Thursday.

“It was quite the shock to us. We really wanted Coldstream Concrete to held accountable,” Sarah Morphew said.

She doesn’t believe the fine will change much. “The monetary fine of $75,000 doesn’t impact them,” she said. “I’m hoping nothing as extreme would happen again.”

The after-effects of the injury continue to this day.

“My husband died that day. He’s physically here. He’s not the same person,” Sarah Morphew said.

She said her husband has difficulty with minor tasks that the rest of us take for granted, like cutting up his food at dinner.

“There’s no back to normal for Geoff.” she said.

While the court also imposed a 25 per cent victim fine surcharge, that money goes to a special provincial government fund to assist victims of crime, not to the family. “None of those monies go to Geoff,” Sarah Morphew said.

To make matters worse, she said the family has had to fight to get compensation for her husband.

“He still has to jump through a lot of hoops. The worker gets forgotten,” she said.

The family has coped by taking life one day at a time. It was only three weeks ago that Morphew was approved for a prosthetic arm.

Sarah Morphew said she asked officials with Coldstream Concrete to meet with the couple after the incident. “They refused to do so,” she said.

danbrown@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/DanatLFPress