It certainly puts the pace of our judicial system in perspective.
After yet another of Carol Berner's appeals was dismissed last week, Michael Middelaer incisively observed that the legal proceedings following the crash that claimed the life of his daughter have dragged on for a longer period of time than little Alexa was alive.
The situation would be laughable if it weren't profoundly sad on so many fronts.
Berner made it abundantly apparent from the outset that she wasn't going to accept responsibility for the tragedy that took place along 64th Street in East Ladner in the spring of 2008. Although she was at the wheel of the car that killed four-year-old Alexa and seriously injured the little girl's aunt, she was, as is her right, going to work the system for all it's worth.
There were challenges mounted during the trial and a string of appeals following it, during which time Berner attempted to place blame on everyone from police officers to the car manufacturer to the judge. None of it worked, and while that's heartening, there are many other aspects of this case that leave me cold.
The fact she was given just a 30month sentence after being found guilty of impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving causing death (as well as impaired driving causing bodily harm and dangerous driving causing bodily harm) is outrageous, made even worse by an appeal in which she argued the sentence was excessive.
What's equally troubling is that it's been almost five years since that fateful day and Berner has served just two weeks of her two-and-a-half-year sentence. I realize this is Canada, and we need checks and balances in our judicial system so we don't rush to judgment, but surely this, and not the sentence, is the excessive part of the equation.
Hopefully we've seen the last of Berner's appeals, a situation one of her lawyers suggested would be the case at the conclusion of last week's proceedings. Not only have these appeals clogged an already overburdened justice system, but they've also forced the Middelaers to relive the day they lost their precious little girl over and over again.
I understand the accused deserves his or her day - or should that be days?
- in court, but surely there must be some recognition of the emotional strain this seemingly endless process places on the victim's family.
This tragedy will stay with the Middelaers forever, but let's hope this chapter is finally closed.
