'No justice, no closure:' Family outraged that driver in deadly B.C. crash won't serve jail time

Family speaks out over sentence in fatal crash The family of a woman who was killed in a 2020 crash say they’re outraged over the sentence handed down to the speeding driver involved.

Ryan Stayner was driving140 kilometres an hour in Coquitlam when his pick-up truck hit a concrete barrier and flipped over. He would not be seriously injured but his passenger, Kathryn Hill, would not survive the August 2020 crash.

“I miss everything about her and I’ll never get her back,” said her grieving mother, Kelly Hill, outside the sentencing hearing for the driver on Wednesday.

The court heard that a toxicology report found Stayner, now 36, had fentanyl and cocaine in his system the night of the crash. But the report could not determine when the drugs were consumed or whether he was impaired.

He pleaded guilty to dangerous driving causing death.

The victim’s sister, Stephanie Swift, read an emotional victim impact statement.

"You killed her, but I watched her die…I hope you understand the trauma and anger you caused me," she said, addressing Stayner.

She said she hopes the driver carries the guilt of what he did with him for the rest of his life.

Stayner later stood in court, apologizing for his actions.

“I am horribly sorry for that night and I wish I could take it back,” he said, becoming emotional. “I do have to live with that for the rest of my life.”

He turned toward the family and said, “I’m so sorry for your pain.”

But Hill’s family doesn’t believe the apology was sincere.

“I didn’t feel that was an apology at all. I didn’t see any remorse,’ said Swift.

What’s equally difficult for the family to accept is the sentence he received.

A joint submission from Crown counsel and defence asked for a conditional sentence of two years less a day, which the judge accepted.

Stayner, who lives in Langley and has a general contractor business, will also serve one year of probation.

“No justice, no closure,” said Swift in reaction to the sentence.

“He gets to go home and go to work every day and see his family and again. We were robbed of that.”

Stayner is also prohibited from driving for two years.

“I worry about what’s going to happen when he gets his licence back,” said Swift, who told CTV News that the family had never heard of the accused before the crash. They still don’t know why Kathryn was with him, where they were going, or how they knew each other.

What they do know is that someone they deeply loved is gone.

“She was a very bubbly, spicy personality and we miss her a lot,” Swift said of her sister, who was 30 when she died.