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Ubhi convicted by B.C. Supreme Court jury

A B.C. Supreme Court jury
found the driver of a hot
asphalt-laden dump truck that
killed two and injured five at
. Horseshoe Bay guilty after
deliberating the case through
the weekend.

By Robert Galster
Contributing Writer

Jalinderpal Singh Ubhi was con-
victed by a 12-member jury of six
men and six women of the lesser
included offences of two counts of
dangerous driving causing death
and five counts causing bodily
harm.

The jury began its deliberations

. at noon Friday and was sequestered
until reaching its verdict Sunday.

. Ubhi will be sentenced by
Supreme Court Justice Jan Drost on
» March 8.

’; Crown counsel Joe Bellows, who
Sought a conviction on the more
serious charges of criminal negli-

_ Bence causing death and bodily
- harm, was pleased with the trial’s
Outcome.

“I'm guite satisfied. with their

(the jury’s) verdict.” said Bellows.
st also lets the family have some
finality. to the process.”
Bellows argued throughout the
_ trial that Ubhi's failure to adjust the

brakes on his truck was a direct -

cause of the tragic mishap.
Bellows would not speculate on

the sentence the Crown will seek but
did say he views “it as a very serious
offence.” He did however refer to
Ubhi’s original sentence of 18
months that an appeal court later
raised to five years as a possible
indication of the Crown's inten-
tions.

In the 1990 accident that killed
Reta Pestell and her nine-year-old
daughter Shawna, both of Ontario,
the Ubhi-driven A-1 Paving Ltd.
dump truck lost its brakes on the
12% grade leading toward the
Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal.

The load of steaming asphalt
crashed into a Ford passenger vay:,
spilling its hot load. Both victims
died of asphyxiation, burns and
head injuries as a result of the acci-
dent.

Another five people sustained
serious injuries.

During the tial, Ubhi'’s lawyer
Russ Chamberlain tried to show that
his client was mentally incapable of
understanding the importance of
adjusting his truck's brakes.

Dr. Asad Qureshi, a clinical psy-
chologist, testified that Ubhi, 29, is
“mildly retarded” and has the men-
tal capacity of a six- or seven-year-
old child.

Qureshi also testified that Ubhi
is not capable of understanding the
importance of telling the truth. This
led to Justice Drost ruling that Ubhi
would not be able to testify under
oath — which did not preclude him
from testifying altogether —
because he lacks the capacity of

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understanding its significance.

However, Bellows disagreed,
saying that even though Ubhi may
not have been capable of driving a
commercial vehicle, “he was aware
of that."

“Despite the fact of his lack of
competence he continued doing it,”
said Bellows.

The jury agreed with Bellows as
a decision on Ubhi’s competence
precludes the question of his guilt.

Chamberlain expressed surprise
over the jury’s decision,

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