The youth responsible for the death of Alyssa Power got an 18-month sentence in a St. John’s room Tuesday, minus the nine months time served.
The girl previously pleaded guilty to charges of dangerous driving causing death, dangerous driving causing bodily harm and breaching court orders.
She will serve a year probation and is prohibited from driving for five years.
Judge James Walsh said she should have forseen the deadly consequences of her actions and said she expressed a certain degree of victim blaming.
Walsh said she presented as intelligent but manipulative.
Before he gave sentence, he acknowledged that youth are sentenced differently than adults because the law says they have diminished responsibility.
“General deterrence has no place in the sentencing of youth. I think this is a concept that is sometimes difficult for the public to understand,” he said.
Power died as the car she was riding in came down Hamlyn Road toward Canada Drive the night of April 13.
Inside the car were four teenagers. In the driver's seat, the 17-year-old youth now convicted in the case, was behind the wheel with no licence, registration or insurance, and under court orders not to drive or even possess keys to a vehicle. Next to her was a 15-year-old boy and behind her in the back seat was another boy, age 17. Next to him was 19-year-old new mother Alyssa Power.
Three of the teenagers weren't supposed to be anywhere near each other, having been given no-contact orders by a judge months earlier. They were in the car together at the intersection of Jensen Camp Road and Empire Avenue in St. John's when they were spotted by an RNC officer as they ran a stop sign.
After running another stop sign and noticing police behind her, the girl behind the wheel — who can't be named due to her age — stepped on the gas, refusing to stop for the flashing lights and sirens. By this time, the car was headed down Hamlyn Road in the city's Cowan Heights neighbourhood. Approaching a red light at the intersection at the bottom of the hill, the vehicle appeared to be gaining speed.
Seconds later, Power was dead, leaving behind a one-month-old daughter. The boy next to her was bleeding, and had a broken arm that would later require surgery. The driver of an SUV with which the Accord had collided when it ignored the red light at the intersection was also injured, needing months of physiotherapy.
Full story on the youth’s sentencing to come.
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