The motorist who struck and killed a young Ukrainian evacuee in Montreal in 2022, was sentenced on Wednesday morning.
Juan Manuel Becerra Garcia, 46, pled guilty in May to failing to stop after an accident. He was sentenced to 12 months – to be served in the community followed by a year of probation. Specifically, the first six months of the sentence, he will be under house arrest 24/7 and after that he would be under a curfew from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and can leave the house for work purposes. He also cannot drive for two years.
“I once again offer my sincere apologies to the family,” said Becerra Garcia in Spanish after the hearing at the Montreal courthouse. “Secondly, apologies to all the people who have been touched by this incident.”
Seven-year-old Mariia Legenkovska was hit by a vehicle on December 13, 2022, while walking to school with her siblings in the Sainte-Marie district.
The driver of the Jeep Grand Cherokee left the scene and turned himself in hours later.
Becerra Garcia maintains that he never saw the girl, as the sun was blinding at the time. He heard a noise and said he felt a bump, but when he looked in his mirrors, he saw nothing and continued on his way.
He was subsequently charged with leaving the scene, but not with dangerous driving, as the investigation concluded that it was an accident.
In court on May 9, Becerra Garcia, who has children of his own, offered an apology to the girl’s mother, telling the family that the pain he caused them will stay with him forever. “I commit to carry with me the memory of your daughter and to honour her life,” he said in a speech translated into French and Ukrainian. “I hope that with time you can find the strength to forgive.”
The prosecutor and defence jointly suggested a sentence to be served at home, followed by probation and a driving ban for a few years.
Mariia and her family moved to Montreal in 2022 to escape the Russian invasion of their country.
Her father, Andrii Legenkovska, was fighting for Ukraine’s territorial defence forces when she was killed, and he travelled to Montreal from the front lines to bury his daughter.
-With files from The Canadian Press