'The nightmare will never be over': Driver sentenced, family reacts in tragic double-fatal crash

The driver charged in a horrific crash that killed two children in 2021 was sentenced on Tuesday, after emotional victim impact statements were read in court.

The accused, who was a youth at the time he was charged, was sentenced to two years of probation – which includes 200 hours of community service. He also has to pay $6,000 in fines and obey a three-year driving prohibition, concurrent on all counts.

On Jan. 31, 2021, Susan Lodge was driving home with her three children when a crash in North Dumfries took two of their lives.

Evan, 12, died on scene. Amanda, 10, was resuscitated on scene but remained in a coma and died a few days later in hospital.

Alyssa, 9, and the mother, Susan, survived.

In July 2021, Waterloo regional police laid charges in connection to the double-fatal crash.

The 17-year-old driver of a Toyota RAV4 involved in the crash was arrested and charged.

The man from Cambridge is now 19-years-old. His name is protected under the Youth Criminal Justice Act. He pleaded guilty to three charges, two counts of careless driving causing death and one count of careless driving causing bodily harm.

The accused was originally charged with dangerous driving, but police were unable to find any evidence that he was distracted. The statement of facts concludes weather did not play a role and failing to stop at a stop sign was the reason for the crash.

"Dry and clear with good visibility,” a police collision report shared in court read. “The collision was the result of [the accused] failing to stop at a posted stop sign. The stop sign would have been visible to [the accused] for 600 meters."

The Lodge family spoke to CTV News in July, 2021, and said they are looking to the future to help with healing.

"I am making a conscious choice to continue and put one foot in front of the other, and I have to for Alyssa," Susan said.

VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENTS

Susan Lodge was in tears, clutching a photo of her three kids as she read her statement on Tuesday.

She told the court she still replays that dreadful day in her head.

“If only I had gone to a different place that day. If only I had taken a different route home. If only I had left one minute later,” she told the court. “One second. If I could just change that one horrible second they would still be here with me.”

Susan said it is not possible to “summarize a lifetime of pain”, telling the court she has 100 reminders everyday about what she lost.

“I am not fine. I will never be fine,” she said. ““Will I ever experience pure joy again? At this point, I can’t see it.”

Greg Lodge, the father, said he had no great career aspirations and “just wanted to be a dad.”

“I am still a dad but a significantly diminished one,” he told the court.

“I so desperately miss my babies, my Evan and my Amanda.”

The crown read the victim impact statement for Alyssa, the surviving daughter.

“I was very close with my sister and brother. We played together all the time and we watched out for each other,” the 9-year-old said. “I am very bored now a lot of the time and there are so many things I can’t do anymore because they are not here.”

Some young friends of the victims also read their statements in court.

“Since I did a lot of things with Amanda, those things became harder to do after she died. Walking to school, doing work in partners, just being without her all felt weird,” said Olive, Amanda’s 12-year-old best friend.

“Going to school and trying to have fun with friends, felt like something was missing. It was Evan. He wasn’t there with us,” Evan’s friend Matthew told the courtroom. 

LODGE FAMILY REACTS TO SENTENCING

“He will go on to dream about his future, but for us, the nightmare will never be over. We are the ones who will serve a life sentence,” Susan told CTV News outside of the Kitchener courthouse.

The accused did not say a word during the proceedings. At the end, the judge asked if he had anything to say, and he shook his head to signal “no”.

“We chose to give him the benefit of the doubt, and made the assumption he would be feeling incredible remorse, and would want to do everything in his power to cooperate, truthfully answer questions and lessen our suffering. Unfortunately, as time went on we came to realize this was not the case,” Susan said.

His defence lawyer said the accused does feel remorse and added that the guilty plea was a reflection of that.

The Lodge family said they’ll never get back what they’ve lost.

“It's been nearly two years since our world was shattered. An ordinary day of fun turned into every parent's worst nightmare. It only took one second for a car accident to destroy our once happy family," Susan said.