Truck Driver in Humboldt Broncos bus crash sentenced to 8 years

The truck driver who caused the deadly Humboldt Broncos crash has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Jaskirat Singh Sidhu of Calgary pleaded guilty earlier this year to 29 counts of dangerous driving.

Judge Inez Cardinal told court in Melfort, Saskatchewan that Sidhu’s remorse and guilty plea were mitigating factors.,but she says she had to consider the number of people who died or were severely injured.

Judge Cardinal noted the victim impact statements from families who lost loved ones in the crash were staggering. She opened the sentencing hearing by reading out the names of all 16 who died.

Sidhu barrelled through a stop sign and into the path of the junior hockey team’s bus at a rural Saskatchewan intersection last April. A sentencing hearing in January heard that Sidhu was going between 86 and 96 kilometres an hour when he passed four signs warning him about the upcoming intersection before he came up to an oversized stop sign with a flashing light.

The crown wanted the 30-year-old to be sent to prison for ten years, while the defence said other cases suggested a range of one-and-a half to four-and-a-half years.