Woman convicted of dangerous driving causing death in 2022 Yellowknife collision
A woman who hit a man with a truck in a Yellowknife three years ago has been found guilty of dangerous driving causing death.
Hannah Lafferty hit Germaine Mantla with her father's Ford F150 truck outside Yellowknife's Bison Estates apartment complex in April 2022, causing Mantla serious injuries which later led to his death.
N.W.T. Judge Elizabeth Hughes on Friday found Lafferty guilty of dangerous driving causing death, rejecting Lafferty's argument that she was driving recklessly to avoid being assaulted by a woman who was hanging on to her car. Lafferty's trial was held earlier this year.
Dozens of people watched as the judge read her verdict, there to support Lafferty or Mantla's family. Some were seated in the courtroom while others watched in a separate overflow room where the verdict was broadcast.
In her decision, Hughes pointed to witness testimony that Lafferty was accelerating quickly, swerving, and driving on the wrong side of the road at the time of the incident. Her driver's side door was also open, with a woman holding on to the car.
According to Hughes, Lafferty said at trial that she had been at the Bison Estates to drop off a man she was dating at the home of the man's ex-partner, Ikeda Lafferty, to pick up a dog from her. Hannah Lafferty did not know Ikeda Lafferty at all.
Ikeda Lafferty then walked to Hannah Lafferty's car and opened the door.
Hughes said Hannah Lafferty argued at trial that she believed Ikeda Lafferty was trying to attack her, which is why she began accelerating and swerving so the other woman would let go of the car.
The car then hit Mantla, a bystander on the opposite side of the road.
Hughes found that Hannah Lafferty had no reason to assume Ikeda Lafferty would physically assault her, and even if she did it would not justify Hannah Lafferty's dangerous driving.
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