A friend of a London woman who was killed by a drunk driver in a cross-over crash on Highway 401 said it's a relief that the driver has pleaded guilty.
Alysson Storey was a friend of Sarah Payne who, along with her five-year-old daughter Freya, died when a pickup truck crossed the median on the highway near Dutton and slammed into her minivan on August 29, 2017. Payne's son, William, suffered serious injuries in the crash.
In a St. Thomas courtroom on Wednesday, 53-year-old Hubert Domonchuk of Cambridge pleaded guilty to a total of seven charges, including two counts of impaired driving causing death. A sentencing hearing has been scheduled for December 17.
"There's no good news in any part of this," Storey said. "But at least we can look forward to this part of the process being over."
While she couldn't speak for family members regarding what length of sentence they feel would be appropriate, Storey said they have faith in the justice system.
"They do feel that he should pay his debt to society, but there's no punishment that can truly capture the severity of his actions," she said. "But they do trust that the legal system will ensure that he receives the proper sentence for those actions."
Storey said the tragedy is still fresh in the minds of many of Sarah's friends and family, who are doing their best to learn to live without Sarah and Freya. She said Wiliam and Sarah's husband are getting lots of support from extended family and friends. But the loss is felt almost every day.
"We're surviving, but we'll never be the same. It's an unspeakable tragedy to lose two such bright lights in such a senseless tragedy. It's very difficult to process and I think it will always be that way," she said.
In the wake of the collision that claimed the lives of Sarah and Freya, Storey launched a campaign to have concrete barriers put up in the median of Highway 401 between London and Tilbury. Earlier this year, the province announced it would install high-tension cable barriers while it considers the installation of concrete barriers. Storey said she was promised by then-candidate Doug Ford that a PC government would install concrete barriers.
"We're giving the new government a bit of a grace period but we will be ensuring that Premier Ford keeps his promise," she said. "He told us during the campaignç to our face that he would be building the concrete median barriers, that he would be ensuring that that promise is kept and we will be ensuring that he keeps that promise."