Sask. appeal court increases sentence of Regina man convicted in fatal crash

Maninder Pal Kang is seen leaving Court of Queen's Bench in Regina on May 2, 2014.

Saskatchewan’s highest court has significantly increased the sentence of a Regina man convicted in a fatal crash more than eight years ago.

Maninder Pal Kang was sentenced last year to 30 months in prison and prohibited from driving for three years after he was found guilty of five charges, including impaired driving causing the death of 26-year-old Sukhminder Singh Khuber.

Kang was also convicted of two counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm involving two teenaged girls, who suffered severe head injuries in the collision.

The Crown appealed the sentence, saying it was “demonstrably unfit” and not proportionate to the gravity of the offence. The Crown had asked for a longer sentence of seven years in prison and a 10-year-driving ban.

In a decision released Tuesday, the Saskatchewan Court of Appeal increased the sentence to 4 1/2 years.

In June 2007, a car driven by Kang slammed into the back of a semi-trailer that was stopped at a red light on Victoria Avenue East. The car was travelling 105 kilometres an hour at the time of the collision, well over the 70-kilometre-an-hour speed limit.

Court heard that Kang drove away from the scene and parked the car on the side of a nearby residential street, while his injured passengers bled next to him, and one of the girls screamed for help.

Kang called 911 and initially reported that his car had been stolen, and that he found the crashed vehicle with his friends inside.

“When one considers the serious consequences of his horrendous driving, his attempts to avoid liability and callous disregard for his passenger’s health, and the principles of denunciation and deterrence, a 4.5 year sentence is appropriate,” Justice Peter Whitmore wrote on behalf of the three-judge panel.