In 2022, a driver who struck and killed a 7-year-old Ukrainian refugee in Montreal was sentenced to 12 months of house arrest.
Juan Manuel Becerra Garcia, who pleaded guilty last month to failing to stop after the accident, apologized to the girl's family in court after the sentencing Wednesday.
On December 13, 2022, seven-year-old Mariia Legenkovska was walking to school with her brother and sister when they were hit by a Jeep Grand Cherokee driven by Becerra Garcia.
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He fled the scene without stopping his car and surrendered to police later that day.
The defense and prosecution jointly recommended a 12-month prison sentence because they agreed Becerra-Garcia did not drive dangerously and that the sun was too bright at the time so he did not see the girl.
Defense attorney Eric Coulombe said today that while Becerra-Garcia did not realize he had hit the girl, the defendant pleaded guilty to “willful blindness” for not stopping after he felt his car hit something.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
