A woman from the Mini Thni First Nation, located just west of Calgary, will spend three-and-a-half years in a federal penitentiary and face a driving prohibition for her role in a horrific crash that killed a Canadian Forces veteran in August of 2022.
Thirty-one-year-old Deirdre Snow was sentenced in a Calgary courtroom on Friday after a jury found her guilty in April on a charge of driving with a blood alcohol limit over .08 causing death.
The crash killed Samantha Wylie, 53, of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta, who was riding her motorcycle along Highway 1A near Morley Road, west of Calgary, when the two vehicles collided.
Snow was the second person charged in Wylie’s death.
Charges were dropped against a passenger in the vehicle, after DNA evidence proved Snow was the person in the driver’s seat at the time of the crash.
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While Snow had admitted to being impaired, she insisted she wasn’t driving and had maintained her innocence, despite an apparent confession to the RCMP, recorded eight months after the crash and entered into evidence during the trial.
The crash, that took place along highway 1A, west of Calgary in August of 2022, killed Canadian Forces veteran Samantha Wylie.
Photo provided by family
Prior to the sentence being handed down, the adult children of Samantha Wylie were given the opportunity to read victim impact statements.
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“On Aug. 19, 2022, I arrived at the scene of an accident, unaware of the fate that had already been sealed,” said Wylie’s daughter, Haley Perrault, in her statement.
“It was August. The night should have been warm, alive with the last breath of summer, but instead the air was unnaturally cold, like even the season itself had recoiled from the violence of what had just happened,” said Perrault who looked directly at Snow.
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Wylie’s son Eric told Snow how the crash has impacted every part of his life, from small and routine to major milestones.
“I got married without a mother and son dance. I have daughter she will never get to meet,” said Perrault of his daughter who is just a few months shy of her first birthday.
The victim’s daughter, Haley Perrault, was also eight-and-a-half months pregnant when her mother was killed. Her daughter just turned three years old.
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The siblings say they want Snow to get help for substance issues, and noted that federal institutions provide ample opportunity for recovery during incarceration.
They also want the case to serve as a cautionary tale — how the impact of one single act can leave dozens of lives shattered.
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Snow’s sentence also includes a five-year prohibition on driving that will follow her release from prison.
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