MARTIN: If driver felt remorse after tragic crash, she didn’t show it

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Regret and remorse aren’t always synonymous.

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A criminal may regret getting caught for a crime but not show remorse for the victims.

Such may be the case for motorist Charizma Hunter Homer.

Homer, 26, was handed a two-years-less-a-day conditional sentence this week which consisted of 12 months of house arrest followed by a similar period of abiding by a nightly curfew.

The sentence was the result of a joint submission by Crown and defence lawyers after Homer pleaded guilty to a single count of dangerous driving causing the deaths of Okotoks residents Kathy and Christopher Burke.

The mother and adult son victims were killed when a speeding Homer tried to pass a vehicle on Hwy. 7, just south of Okotoks in the early afternoon of April 27, 2022, and collided her Cadillac Escalade head-on into the Honda Civic being driven by Christopher Burke.

Kathy Burke was declared dead on scene, while her son succumbed to his injuries the following day at Foothills Medical Centre.

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According to the agreed facts, data from Homer’s SUV showed she was travelling at “upwards of 148 km/h” in the 100 km/h zone before the crash and “multiple witnesses at the scene described the accused’s driving pattern as reckless and that when the pass was initiated, there was no way that she would have been able to complete the pass safely.”

While defence counsel Pat Fagan said his client was remorseful for the deadly crash, noting she has suffered psychologically from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression from seeing Kathy Burke dead at the scene and later learning of Christopher’s death, her conduct in court and afterwards didn’t seem to support that.

And while it’s true people can show emotion in many different ways, it’s hard to argue with widower Glenn Burke that Homer didn’t seem particularly grieved for her victims.

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Homer did show emotion in court, but only wiped away tears as Fagan spoke of the psychological harm suffered by his client.

Through three victim-impact statements from Glenn Burke, his other son Matthew and Kathy Burke’s sister, Lola Pascale, Homer showed no outward signs of being distressed as they spoke of their losses.

Other than when Fagan spoke of Homer’s own emotional distress, the offender sat quietly in the prisoner’s box, occasionally biting her nails.

Most telling was when Justice Nancy Dilts asked the defence lawyer if Homer wished to address the court before the Calgary Court of King’s Bench judge pronounced sentence.

“She does not,” Fagan said.

It’s not unusual for an offender to decline to make a comment at that stage in the proceedings.

Sometimes they are overwhelmed with emotion and can’t speak without breaking down. Other times they just can’t find the right words.

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But a simple “I’m sorry” in this instance would have gone a long way to relieve some of the grief still haunting the survivors of the two victims in what Pascale described as “senseless deaths.”

Silence can often speak volumes more than words can.

Homer’s conduct after court was done was also interesting.

Fagan met with his client and her partner in a side room where loud banging could be heard on the walls.

That’s not definitive that Homer was responsible for the noise, but the fact after she emerged from the room and was banging her head on a glass wall while waiting for an elevator is telling.

It’s certainly possible all of her conduct was indicative of her way of expressing grief for her victims, but it certainly didn’t provide any solace for their loved ones.

As Glenn Burke, who three years later is still grieving the loss of his wife and son, said after court was done, Homer didn’t seem to feel remorse.

“She killed two people and she doesn’t care,” he said.

A simple “I’m sorry” may have changed that opinion.

KMartin@postmedia.com

X: @KMartinCourts

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