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“We wanted her to hear what the judge’s decision was,” said Tuan. “We want people to know that this is what happened and she had a lot of goals and ambitions in her life and this was taken away from her, robbed from her. We just want her to know we’re here for her and we’re always going to be there to help her through this whole process. And this is just another step forward. We’re glad it’s over, but we have lots of work ahead of us. And we’re going to try to move forward and just focus on getting her well.”

Nikirk, who was behind the wheel of a black Mercedes SUV, came to the attention of other drivers more than five kilometres before the collision, said the judge. During the trial, one driver testified that Nikirk’s vehicle was following her so closely that she could only see the grille on her car.

The tailgating took place while Nikirk was also texting. Between 8 and 8:24 a.m. she sent 12 texts and received 13 texts, McKimm noted.

“She was distracted,” said McKimm.

He accepted evidence from a witness that Nikirk was constantly looking up and down into her lap at the stop light at Royal Oak Drive and Cordova Bay Road.

“Her attempt to secret this behaviour by keeping the phone in her lap confirms her own knowledge that this behaviour was illegal.”

Nikirk was also speeding excessively, McKimm found. The route she drove that morning has a posted speed limit of 50 km/h. Dashcam video captured her passing two vehicles at once, at a speed estimated by experts to be 95-to-100 km/h.