KAMLOOPS, B.C. — The night began with a promise not to drink and drive and ended with an impaired driver crashing his pickup and killing two passengers.
Now the man behind the wheel on March 20, 2010, has been sentenced to three years in prison for the deaths of 20-year-old Brittany Plotnikoff and 38-year-old Kenneth Craigdaillie.
Wayne Fedan was driving them home from a party when he crashed his vehicle.
His sentence includes a ban on driving for three years after he is released from prison.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Deborah Kloegman noted in her judgment that Fedan promised Plotnikoff’s stepfather earlier that evening that he would not drink and drive.
The 53-year-old construction worker was also charged with impaired driving causing death but Kloegman earlier ruled that his blood-alcohol readings could not be entered as evidence due to improper police conduct.
Despite that ruling, the judge found that Fedan consumed alcohol, an aggravating factor.
In sentencing Fedan to a three-year prison sentence, Kloegman sided with the Crown. The defence had argued for a two-year term.
Kloegman found that 30 minutes before the fatal crash, Fedan was seen tailgating, speeding and turning without signalling or braking beside a crosswalk, causing a pedestrian to jump to avoid being hit.
She said Fedan’s “moral blameworthiness” is increased by his pattern of reckless driving that evening, the fact that his passengers were not wearing seatbelts, his consumption of alcohol and the broken promise that he would not drink and drive.
Fedan was also under a police undertaking that banned consumption of alcohol due to a spousal incident in Alberta.
The construction worker who is also an instrument technician has three children and three grandchildren. (Kamloops This Week)
