The pain and emotional exhaustion of West Shore RCMP Const. Sarah Beckett’s family gave way to anger late Wednesday afternoon as the sentencing hearing of the man responsible for her death did not finish.
Beckett’s mother, Gurcharn Beckett, walked out of the court soon after defence lawyer Dale Marshall began his submissions on behalf of Kenneth Jacob Fenton.
“I can’t listen to any more of this bullshit,” she said.
The 29-year-old Langford man has pleaded guilty to impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing the death of the mother of two on April 5, 2016.
Beckett, 32, was killed when her cruiser was struck by Fenton’s pickup truck at Peatt Road and Goldstream Avenue.
At one point, Marshall moved Fenton to the other side of the court, away from people making comments about him. At the end of the day, Beckett’s husband, Brad Aschenbrenner appeared angry, walking out of court as the judge and lawyers started discussing when the sentencing hearing could continue.
Crown prosecutor Tim Stokes suggested Fenton be jailed for three to five years. Marshall asked for a three-year sentence.
For the first time, details of the collision were revealed in a lengthy agreed statement of fact presented to the court. There was no police chase and at no time did Fenton attempt to flee police.
Colleagues, family and friends watched disturbing videos of the collision and the frantic attempts by police, firefighters and paramedics to remove Beckett’s lifeless body from her crushed cruiser.
According to the statement, Fenton’s former partner told police that Fenton struggled with alcohol addiction and was upset on April 4, 2016, after hearing about the suicide of a friend. He had already lost his best friend to suicide three years earlier. About 5 p.m., Fenton went to a friend’s house, drank seven or eight beers, then left.
Before midnight, he went to the house of other friends, who were also grieving the suicide. Although Fenton had decided to stay the night there, he had an argument and left, driving off in his 1996 Dodge pickup just before 3:25 a.m.
At 3:26 a.m., a West Shore RCMP corporal saw Fenton driving east on Brock Avenue toward Peatt Road and noticed his tail lights weren’t on.
Fenton turned right onto Peatt Road with the officer following. Fenton slowed his truck at a crosswalk 200 metres before Goldstream Avenue. Then, with a straight stretch of road ahead of him, he accelerated.
The officer put on his emergency lights, but no siren. He could see the back end of the truck wiggle and believed Fenton was trying to flee. Fenton didn’t initially see the police lights. When he did, it took him a few moments to realize the lights were intended for him.
“Because his attention was on the lights of the police car in his rear-view mirror and his reaction time was impaired due to his consumption of alcohol, Mr. Fenton failed to see that he was entering the intersection or that the light was red,” says the statement of facts.
Beckett was proceeding through the intersection on the green light.
Fenton, who was 3.5 times over the legal limit, hit her at a speed estimated at between 76 and 90 kilometres an hour. He applied his brakes a split section before he hit her cruiser.
The RCMP corporal described “this explosion, there’s just glass and smoke and dust everywhere.” He radioed for assistance, arrested Fenton and handcuffed him to the steering wheel.
Witness Jordan Coons, who lived in an apartment on Peatt Road, went to see if he could help. He said Fenton was confused and dazed and “clearly in shock.”
Fenton asked him how the officer was. When Coons said he thought Fenton had killed her, Fenton slumped over and began to cry.
Meanwhile, the corporal tried repeatedly to open both the driver and passenger doors of the police cruiser. Eventually, three officers freed Beckett and got her on a gurney. Police and paramedics were doing CPR, but her injuries “were inconsistent with life.”
She was taken to Victoria General Hospital and pronounced dead at 4:08 a.m.
An autopsy found she suffered a severed spine and a ruptured aorta.
Fenton was also taken to the hospital. A police officer noticed a strong odour of liquor on his breath. Fenton twice refused to give a blood sample.
According to the statement, Fenton has a limited and vague recollection of his interactions with police, nurses, civilians and paramedics. When police searched his truck, they found empty beer cans.
“I wonder, did she see death rushing at her? Did she have a moment of consciousness when she realized she would never see her boys again?” Gurcharn Beckett wrote in her victim impact statement about the loss of her daughter.
In his statement, Aschenbrenner said he feels like he’s having a heart attack when he thinks of the loss of his wife of 10 years.
“It’s true heartache, like my heart is actually breaking,” he said, on the verge of breaking down.
He and his sons live in a home filled with the sadness left by her absence. Although Aschenbrenner tries to celebrate and to make her birthday, Mother’s Day, Christmas and other milestones happy occasions for them, there’s always an undercurrent of sadness and loss. “And I suspect there always will be,” he said.
Aschenbrenner said this was the second time he has experienced a traumatic loss. In 1996, when he was 16, his sister was killed in a similar crash.
In his submissions, Marshall said his client suffers waves of remorse. Fenton struggled day to day with suicidal thoughts after the collision, Marshall said. He was referred to Island Health in an acute state of distress.
“He knows he’s hurt a lot of people.”
The sentencing hearing is expected to continue on July 7.
