No jail for truck driver who killed young dad

Coquitlam dad Mark Holmes, 26, died after a cement truck ran a red light and crashed into his car in April 2011. (CTV)

The family of a young father killed in a tragic crash in New Westminster is outraged the truck driver involved won’t spend any time behind bars.

Burnaby resident Mohammad Abdolmalekpoor was transporting a load of cement down a steep hill in April 2011 when he ran a red light and plowed into a compact car.

The collision was violent enough to shatter the front end of the cement truck. The other car, which Mark Holmes was driving to pick up his wife and baby, didn’t stand a chance.

The 26-year-old died at the scene.

On Wednesday, Abdolmalekpoor was sentenced to a $1,000 fine and two-year driving ban after pleading guilty to one count of driving without due care and attention, a Motor Vehicle Act offence.

Holmes’s mother-in-law Tracey Demers said she’s livid that four other charges against the driver were dropped.

“All of our lives have changed,” Demers said. “We need to change our court system. We need to change our laws.”

The other charges included dangerous operation of a vehicle causing death, a Criminal Code offence, and three other Motor Vehicle Act charges, including failure to ensure a vehicle is in safe operating condition and operating a vehicle without effective service brakes.

Paul Doroshenko, B.C.’s leading lawyer in driving cases, said the sentence is reasonable given Abdolmalekpoor’s good driving record and the fact that the crash appears to have been an accident.

In cases like these, Doroshenko said, the offence has to be separated from the sometimes terrible consequences.

“This could happen to anybody,” he said. “If you drive home for 20 minutes, I can tell you right now there’s going to be a few minutes during that 20 minutes where you’re probably not driving with the care and attention you should be.”

Abdolmalekpoor will likely never recover from the fact that he took a life, Doroshenko added – something that’s little comfort to Holmes’s family.

“I hope that he does live with it, because we do every day,” Demers said.

With a report from CTV Vancouver’s Penny Daflos